RWBY Rehash
by CoopDM
Summary: Just a rewritten version of RWBY put together between me and my friends
1. Volume 1 Chapter 1: Red and Yellow

The sound of waves gently brushing against the side of the ferry was overlapped by the intermittent cry of the seagulls that flew parallel to it. The sea breeze carried the smell of saltwater to the noses of the people on deck as the midday sun shone down on the brilliant blue water, causing it to sparkle wherever it was looked upon. Out near the rail at the edge of the ship's starboard side a young girl took in the scenery. Her black bob cut hair flew around a bit in the breeze making the dark red highlights towards it's ends a little more noticeable, but even more noticeable was the bright red hooded cape she wore which billowed out behind now in the ocean zephyr. The isle of Patch was now several hours behind where the ferry was and the red hooded girl looked back longingly towards it.

"Ruby!" A brash female voice called out and the girl at the rail quickly turned to see where it had come from. Her silver eyes darted around to determine the origin of the call and fell on it almost immediately. A blonde bombshell with wild hair coming down to her waist and a body concealed only by a pair of short black shorts with half a brown skirt belted over it and a brown jacket which somehow still revealed her midriff waved towards the girl whose name she'd called as she walked over to her in a sexy swagger which was so obvious that it was clearly intentional. The silver eyes of the crimson-cloaked girl glimpsed the various young men aboard the vessel as they stared at the well endowed blonde's catwalk and she sighed to herself in mild embarrassment.

"Hi Yang" Ruby said as she cracked a slight smile towards the blonde to cover her initial reaction. Yang approached the shorter girl and put an arm around her shoulders, bringing her in tight to where her head rested against the bigger girl's chest.

"So, what's my little sister been up to out here?" The blonde asked as she looked down at the girl she held like a child.

Ruby cringed a bit at the question but brought her smile back to answer, "Just looking at the scenery is all…"

The blonde moved her lilac eyes across the ship to observe the attractive young men milling around on deck, "Oh really?" Yang's face grew into a huge grin, "So out of all that scenery what part did you find the best looking?"

Ruby was a bit confused for a second but eventually saw what Yang meant. The red girl pushed herself away from her sister, "I meant I was looking at the ocean and birds and stuff ok!"

Yang laughed a little at the younger girl but quickly brought her back in for another embrace, "Relax, I'm just kidding. That said, if I were you I'd sure like taking in the local hunks."

"Just because I like boys doesn't mean I want them to see me staring at them all day." Ruby pouted a little as Yang kept laughing and nuzzling her into her chest.

"Well once I'm at beacon I'm gonna make sure to do just that with all the guys there!" Yang boasted towards her sister.

Ruby pouted some more. She wasn't too happy that her older sister was about to leave home and that she'd need to wait two years before she could follow after her.

Yang saw the pout and figured out immediately what it was about, "Come on Ruby, it's not like I'm going to be gone forever. I'll make sure to come back home on holidays and stuff."

"It won't be the same…" Ruby complained. Yang was her older sister certainly but she'd been the one who had taken the most care of Ruby since she was young. In many ways Yang was a mother to Ruby as well.

Yang sighed and scratched the back of her head "Hey Ruby, let's go back below deck. I bet you they have cookies and stuff down there if you want some."

Ruby looked up from her pout and managed to crack a little smile before nodding in agreement with Yang's plan. The two girls began heading back towards the lower decks but as they did they heard a noise which was inconsistent with what they'd heard in the background before. The calls of the gulls had been overlapped now by a different sounding cry closer to a shriek than the squawks of the sea birds. The two girls immediately swiveled to look back where the sound had come from. Near where Ruby had stood close to the rail a black arm with a webbed claw shot up and grabbed hold of the same rail.

"Grimm!" Ruby's eyes lit up and a smile reached her face. From behind her back she drew a boxy red item and pressed a button on it, causing it to extend into a scythe the same height as her, then immediately she shot herself forward in a rush that left behind a gust of wind and swath of red petals.

"Ruby hold on!" Yang called out behind the other girl but Ruby had already clearly become focused on the monsters which were now boarding the ferry. Yang sighed to herself in annoyance but decided to follow behind her sister. The blonde reached into the pockets on the back of her half skirt and slid two yellow metallic gauntlets over her hands which then extended from the wrists into bracers as well. The blonde hit her knuckles together then stomped her way forward towards the fight, her lavender eyes changing color to red ones after a single blink.

The grimm had boarded en masse from every side of the ship. They were an interesting species which seemed to be a bunch of bipedal turtle like creatures the top of whose heads were concave rather than convex with water held in the bowl like heads. As the grimm pursued the civilians Ruby intervened, making a quick slash or shot at each one before darting away from each one in order to disallow them the opportunity to counterattack her.

Yang meanwhile walked forward slowly shooting each grimm that didn't notice her with the shotguns built into her gauntlets and punching each one that got within reach of her. These grimm were not necessarily the strongest she'd ever seen but there sure were a lot of them and she worried that Ruby's normal methods might not be good against such a large number of opponents.

Ruby kept up her hit and run tactics but though she was managing to take out a few of the grimm some of the ones she hit returned to action afterwards. She decided to keep going through with multiple hits to try and take out all of them but eventually a problem developed. While there had been a greater open space between each grimm previously they had managed to consolidate and come closer to one another. Now if she wanted to hit one it was quite likely that another one close by would be able to react by hitting her while she hit one of its comrades. Ruby cocked the rifle portion of her scythe and set it up to shoot some of the grimm to thin their ranks.

Ruby succeeded in taking out every other grimm with the gun and then switched back to the scythe's extended war scythe form. Using the polearm she vaulted over the line of grimm and got behind them, initiating her hit and run fighting style once more, or so she would have liked. In actuality the line of grimm was merely the first rank, another group of grim was positioned behind them and they reacted to Ruby's landing with an all out attack. Ruby gasped and fired off a shot in conjunction with the repulsion of her semblance to get out of reach of the rear guard grimm, but this had only the effect of sending her crashing back into the first rank. Though she knocked over a few grimm when she did others in the front line began to gather around her.

Ruby was now forced into normal melee combat and though she could probably hold her own for a little bit the reach of her weapon meant that as soon as the grim were able to close in more they'd be able to operate inside of her offensive area, preventing her from being able to actually damage them. Ruby began bringing her weapon around in figure eight slashes meant to keep multiple opponents at bay, the problem with that technique was that it worked better when outnumbered by humans who were concerned with keeping themselves alive, the grimm were far less frightened of death than men were and were far more willing to charge into danger. Of course there was one human Ruby knew who was even more willing to charge in than the grimm.

The sound of a shotgun going off drew Ruby's attention back towards her rear where she saw Yang brawling her way through the grimm to get to her, "Ruby! There you are!"

Ruby was relieved that Yang had come to assist her, "Yang!"

The blonde walked up to the red hooded girl and grabbed her by the collar, "What the hell did you think you were doing going off on your own like that?!"

Ruby's smile faded and she stuttered, "I-I-don't-I…"

Yang released the collar, "Forget it, just stick together with me now, we'll talk about this later."

Ruby regained her footing and stood back in a combat stance with a serious look on her face, sighing quietly when Yang turned to look the opposite direction from her. Yang was probably gonna end up giving her another mom lecture after this. The two girls were now back to back from each other meaning the grimm advance now had no openings. Ruby and Yang alternated between shooting the grimm further out and striking the ones that made it further in, eventually they ground the numbers down to a point that there were perhaps only a dozen or so left on the side of the ship they were on. At that point the two girls were easily able to mop up the remainder of the monsters.

Yang crushed the skull of the final grimm onto the deck with a downward strike and dusted off her hands as the shadow being dissolved into the thin air around them. From behind her she heard the sound of rapid clapping, "Woo! Go Yang! Show those grimm who's boss!"

Ruby was clearly trying to praise Yang in an effort to get on her big sister's good side but Yang wasn't having it. The blonde grabbed the red hood by her collar once more, "Ok Ruby, do you mind telling me why you shot off on your own and nearly got yourself overrun?"

"Ummm… Well…" Ruby couldn't really answer since she had done so in the first place without thinking.

"You know you could have been killed right? If I hadn't been there those grimm would have ganged up on you and ripped you apart!"

Ruby cast her face down away from Yang, "I just wanted to save all those people as quick as I could…"

Yang sighed and brought Ruby into another embrace, shoving her little sister's face between her breasts, "I know Ruby, I know, but if I lose you I wouldn't be able to live with myself anymore. Please you have to be more careful alright?"

Ruby mumbled something in agreement into Yang's cleavage and the blonde released her from the smothering hug, "Let's get below deck and make sure the rest of the passengers are ok."

"Alright" Ruby answered in agreement. Right before the two of them turned towards the hatch they heard a slow clap echoing from that area.

"Marvelous. Perfectly marvelous. Exactly the type of thing I'd expect from those with a talent for fighting." The words came from a tall, gray haired man in a black suit with a green ascot around his neck who had begun to step up to the two girls, tapping a cane on the deck with every other step as he did.

The two girls stood in surprise without saying anything to the old man, "Oh and if the two of you are wondering whether the rest of the passengers are safe don't worry, I've already done a proper headcount and they are all perfectly alive. A few scratches from the kappa here and there but nothing that can't heal with a little aura and bandages."

Yang decided to speak up first, "Um… Sir… You wouldn't happen to be…"

"Oh! Where are my manners? My name is Professor Ozpin, headmaster of beacon huntsman academy, but I suppose you've already figured that out haven't you?" The old man bowed before the two girls and gave a smirk as he tilted his head up in a comical pose.

Yang nodded a little at the professor, "Yes sir, I knew who you were since I'm actually on my way to start beacon right now. I'm Yang Xiao Long and this is my little sister Ruby Rose."

"Is that so? Well I'm glad to have two people so capable join my students." The professor said as he slightly adjusted his ascot.

Ruby raised her hand a little at this, "Actually professor it's just my sister Yang who's going, I'm still too young…"

"Really? It seems to me that you were more than capable of handling those grimm just like your sister did."

"Uh… well actually I'd gotten cornered so if it wasn't for her I'd probably not have made it." Ruby admitted to the professor.

The professor brought his hand to his chin and rubbed it in consideration, "I see... Well it seems to me that you are still quite adept at fighting even if you got in over your head a bit. Tell me, are you willing to attend beacon like your sister?"

"Well I was going to apply for it once I got old enough for sure."

Ozpin raised his hand to halt the youngster, "My apologies, what I meant was would you like to begin attending beacon with your sister right now?"

Ruby's eyes grew wide at the proposition, "You mean right now? Two years early?"

"Precisely." Ozpin nodded.

Yang put the brakes on the conversation, "Whoah, hold on, my sister is still really young and not nearly as good a fighter as I am, there's no way she's ready for beacon."

"Miss Xiao Long, beacon is an academy where we train each student to their utmost potential, just because Miss Rose isn't quite equal with you right now doesn't mean she cannot progress to that point under our instruction. I'd ask that you be accepting of her entry."

Yang growled a little and looked over at Ruby who had her eyes oriented in a wide puppy dog plead, "Can I please do it Yang? Please?"

Yang growled a little more and looked back at Ozpin, "Alright fine, Ruby you can come with me to beacon, but know right now that I'm going to be sure to keep an eye on you the whole time we're there!"

"Yay! Thank you so much Yang!" Ruby shouted as she threw a hug around the taller girl and began squeezing her tightly.

Ozpin chuckled a bit, "Excellent, I'll be looking forward to seeing your progress as one of my students, speaking of which…"

Ozpin turned away from the girls and looked out across the ferry. The girls aimed their own eyes in the same direction and noticed that on the horizon had grown a skyline of several buildings.

"It seems we've finally arrived at Vale." Ozpin said as the ship began approaching the docks of the city which was the home of Beacon academy.


	2. Volume 1 Chapter 2: White

The sun shone brightly down upon a silver vessel making its way through the bay. Upon the hardwood deck of this grand yacht could be easily heard a repetitive multi tapping noise. High heels ran over top of the forward deck repeatedly and copiedly, making the exact same order of taps each time. It must have been nearly a hundred performances of the same, entirely consistent and perfectly deadly rapier fighting art.

One hundred performances of this impressive art would have made the white dressed performer quite satisfied, however on this number ninety-eight there had been a slight splash of waves that had left a slight puddle in the place where the feet usually step. When the heel touched its typical tap spot, now hydrated by the saltwater, it had the sad ability of causing the technique savvy ponytailed warrior princess to slip clumsily onto her back, a sight causing the immediate laughter of an old voiced male.

"Do not laugh at me! It wasn't my fault! The stupid waves were what caused it!"

The mustached pudgy man with his vest and tie kept on laughing regardless of the princess's yelling as he walked towards her, "Oh of course Milady Weiss Schnee, your perfect technique could not possibly have caused such a terrible result. I shall be certain to have a stern talking to with the sea to ensure they are properly punished for such uncouth misbehavior!"

The man kept a heavily cracked smile on his face as he stated his obvious joke to the heiress and reached out his hand to offer her the help back to her feet. Weiss' blue eyes narrowed at the balding brown head through the scar on its left as she obtusely corroborated with taking his hand and being helped back to her feet, "I was almost at the hundred repetitions I was aiming for with Myrtenaster Klein." Weiss complained angrily as she rose to her feet.

"Ninety-Eight rapier technique repetitions with Myrtenaster is still more than impressive Milady Weiss, besides we're nearly ready to dock at the harbor anyway." The Klein butler's overarching grin now subdued to a small smile as he spoke with the now risen Weiss.

The white dressed heiress coughed manually to hide her smile at the praise, "Yes, well perhaps I should simply take a break then while I watch us arrive in port."

"An excellent idea Milady, and while you're at it you can reply on the phone calls from your father Jacque Schnee."

A sour expression that she didn't bother hiding now arced across Weiss' face immediately and she tried to look away at something, "Oh would you look at that, it's a brilliant flock of seagulls, how enjoyable."

Klein straightened his face into a solid expression and his yellow eyes shifted color into light brown ones, "Now Milady it is highly important that you respond back to the man who acts as your father and the CEO of the Schnee Company you are destined to inherit one day."

Weiss sighed deeply, "I know, I know, but he's just so…"

"Cold?" The butler asked.

"Yes. Nothing I do is ever impressive enough for him. All he does is boss me around without ever praising me. Me! The girl who spends everyday working to be the perfect business woman and warrior!" Weiss had now become completely honest towards Klein.

Klein sighed back at the white dressed girl and became slightly more casual towards her, "I know my sweet little one, I know, but you can't remain silent towards him forever."

"I'm aware Klein, but I just… I just can't convince myself to do it today… I'm sorry."

Klein's mouth grinned a little on the left side to put the girl at ease and he approached and gave Weiss a hug, "I know Weiss. Sorry for trying to convince my little girl to do so."

Weiss let herself embrace the hug for almost a minute as though she were back to being the ten year old girl holding hands with the skinnier, less bald butler so long ago, but after a bit she thought to herself and pushed herself away before making another manual cough to shift her face back, "Ahem, yes, well, it's so close to our docking that I can hardly be expected to busy myself with a formal phone call right now."

Klein smirked yet again at the obvious act, "Of course Milady, speaking of which…"

The two of them turned towards the harbor to see that they were only a few feet away from the dock. The silver yacht smoothly brought itself to link up with the landing it was meant for and the crew immediately lowered a ramp to allow the disembarkation of the ship. Weiss confidently strolled onto the bay, followed by Klein and the servants carrying the heiress' multiple different forms of wheeled luggage. As the group made its way through the harbor though they began noticing certain strange markings upon many of the shipping containers.

The containers themselves were Schnee ones from Weiss' and, more importantly, her father Jacque's company. However, upon the inbuilt Schnee logo officially painted on to them, there were spray painted messages and drawings. "White fang rules here! Stupid humans get out of Faunus town! Schnee workers can suck dust! Faunus pride worldwide! Faunus equality or human shutdown now!" These plus various other vulgar vandalism easily displayed a hatred of the highly present Schnee work on the part of the faunus under the gang White Fang.

Klein looked around hesitantly at the numerous White Fang graffiti items, "Seems the faunus are quite numerous here in Vale just like Atlas…"

Weiss changed to a snooty look and scoffed at the White Fang activity, "Worthless. I thought I'd gotten away from those pathetic beastmen when I left home but I guess they still scurry around here. Well it's not as though their pathetic acts accomplish anything instead of unruliness anyway. What a perfectly poor group who will just stay that way out of stupidity."

Klein was far less confident about the weakness of the faunus and the White Fang specifically, "Perhaps you should ready yourself just in case someone tries something criminal on us as we make our way towards beacon Milady…" Klein's eyes were now red and his voice was rougher and tougher than normal.

"Hah! Please there's nothing…" Right at that moment a clap was heard and the entire group looked to see a burning fuse device close by.

"Milady get back!" Klein's speed was only good enough for him to step between the bomb and the shocked female right before it went off.

Multiple repetitive super loud explosions pierced Weiss' hearing and she closed her eyes in shock, but as she did so she noticed that there was no pain or shockwave associated with what had just occurred. Weiss opened her eyes and looked over to see what was going on only to find that nobody was harmed at all.

"What the hell just happened Kleinn!?"

The butler exhaled newly unworriedly, "Just a loud firecracker Milady, no worries."

A sound of dual laughter could be easily heard from not too far away. Weiss and Klein immediately turned to see two small boys, one with a large set of rabbit like ears and another with a salamander esque tail, both of them wearing dirty ripped and patched shirts and shorts.

"You filthy animals! I'll show you what you get for trying to act against Schnee!" Weiss shouted at the two faunus boys and drew Myrtenaster, which now began glowing white as though some power was beginning to pass through it. The two boys began shifting their grins to shocked expressions and becoming frozen in fear.

Kleinn immediately grabbed Weiss' rapier hand and lifted it up to stop the girl, "What are you doing Klein?!"

"They're just boys Weiss! Let them be!" Under this opportunity the two young faunus males made their run rather than remaining close to their potential punishment.

Weiss yanked her hand away from Klein, sheathed her rapier, and scoffed in response, "Fine. Let those poor scumbags run away. Let's leave Klein."

Klein sighed and walked after the heiress again as the two of them made their way to beacon academy.

(Sorry it took me so long to follow up on this I was in the hospital a little while but I should be back at it more often since I'm very healthy again)


	3. Volume 1 Chapter 3: Black

Volume 1 Chapter 3: Black

Vale city central, a busy business center where thousands of people walked about engaging in whatever activity it was kept them paid and/or fed. Among the crowd that made its way around was a young woman dressed in a black blouse and trousers held up by a set of violet suspenders woven on each side with a dark symbol of nightshade. Her long wavy black hair was adorned atop by a black bow ribbon and her back was adorned with a backpack and the sheath of a straight black blade. The blade itself wasn't very special. A mere simple sword without any transformative functions or integrated dustarms was all it was, but for her it was as much as she could get her hands on.

The gaze of the girl darted around the people crowding the square she was currently in. She noticed the average job owner milling mindlessly towards whatever destination they were going towards. She noticed the typical shop owner advertising for their restaurant or store, or serving those who bothered attending them. Then, on the sides of the sidewalks, ignored by the average individual walking by she saw the bums.

Homeless and poor they held up cardboard signs asking for change or temporary employment. The group of patched up beggars also, for the most part, possessed big ears, horns, scales, and tails. The girl clenched her fists a bit as she watched but she immediately caught herself and released them. Spying one of the less intimidating beggars she walked up to them.

The white haired and long eared old woman wearing tattered up clothes opened her wide eyes surprisedly at the girl in black, but she quickly extended a small box with her arms, "Spare some lien Miss?"

A few of the monetary cards already shuffled around in the box of offerings the old woman hobo had. The girl in black knelt down to bring herself level with the homeless woman, "Sure, but first could you tell me how to get to beacon from here?"

The old woman looked askew at the girl in black but she shrugged a bit and pointed down the street, "If you follow that street down the shopping district you'll end up in the education and hospital district. Beacon is at the top of the hill there. The road starts winding around there but if you just stay on a straight path you should get there eventually."

The girl in black glanced down the road the old woman had pointed down then back to her, "Thanks. I don't have much but here you go."

The black dressed dame yanked a few low denominations of lien from her pocket and tossed them into the homeless woman's box of money.

"Anytime you're willing to pay I'm willing to talk." The rabbit eared lady said while forcing a smile onto her worn out face.

The dark adorned girl stood immediately and turned but paused for a slight second, "I would have given you the same money if you'd given me nothing."

Not waiting for a response from the beggar the girl immediately started marching quickly down the road she had been pointed towards.

The old woman wasn't wrong about the educational district. Every sidewalk and roadway around there was turned widely for the aesthetics of offering up green grass plots all around the classically styled architecture. The black dressed girl rolled her golden eyes at the set up path and merely stepped deliberately across the lawns to cut the time and distance of her journey. After marching through a shorter number of miles than she would have been subjected to by the paved surfaces the girl made it to the top of the hill as she was told and was not disappointed by it.

Behind a beautiful white wall spired atop by barbs was the gargantuan white tower crowned with a narrow shingled and coned roof and centered with a gargantuan emerald clock, the indicator meant to show everyone exactly where beacon was and what time it is. And in an interesting fate the girl made it to the top of the hill right as an hour sign upon the clock tower clunked right over to its next position, letting loose nine loud rings to indicate the new time. The girl sighed in an annoyed manner at the clock's grand statement, "Right on schedule…"

The girl walked through one of the gate sets on the wall up towards the headquarters situated beneath the tower. As she got into the lobby she noticed the front desk of helpful secretaries speaking with the various questioners that approached them. The nightshade symbolized girl approached the free one who wasn't speaking with anyone else. The secretary dressed in the green vest and tie uniform of the school looked up from typing away at her screen and assumed a big grin, "Hello Miss! How may I help you today?"

The suspendered girl maintained a cold expression towards the positive acting secretary, "I'm here to join Beacon."

The secretary immediately looked to her screen and poised to tap on her keyboard again, "Alright, are you here to join without records?"

The girl paused a bit but forced herself to spit out an answer, "Yes…"

"Ok then I'll need your name and date of birth."

The girl found the situation a little awkward and began holding her upper right arm in a bit of embarrassment, but still she forced herself to answer coldly, "Blake."

"Ok, and last name?" The secretary looked up at "Blake" expectantly but received no response from the black haired girl who merely stared back at her coldly. She smiled hesitantly and looked back to her screen "Okay just Blake it is! And your birthdate?"

"Seventeen years ago."

The secretary looked back at Blake awkwardly "Okay… Uh… I'll just put you down for sometime in the autumn!"

Blake shrugged an acceptance of the detail the secretary made up as she recovered her service grin and the woman immediately typed away what information of the application she could onto her computer, "Alright! I have you all signed up for the entry exam! Just make your way down that hall to the room signed arenas and speak with Professor Goodwitch!"

The secretary paused a second and donned a hesitant expression and tone, "Uh… You can… Read, right?

Blake narrowed her eyes at the secretary, "Yes."

"Oh! Good then! The door should be on your left! You have a great day!"

"Thanks." Blake said curtly, maintaining her monotone as she walked away from the grin talking secretary down the hall. The curving hallway possessed many differently signed doors, each one apparently being the class of a different subject. Eventually Blake made her way to the very end of this particular hall right before it came to a pair of double doors which exited into the presumable courtyard behind the clock tower. To the left of that was the class signed simply "Arenas."

Blake opened the door to the classroom unhesitantly. When she looked within she saw the arrangement of the arena class. It was big. On the side closest to the trickingly minor entry door were three groups of tiered seating arrangements behind lines of large desks divided from each other by two stairways leading down to the bottom. In that bottom were three circular tiled arenas lifted up a few feet from the floor with a set of steps up to each one. These fighting circles had no sort of cages or rings about their perimeters. One bad move and anyone fighting there could easily find themselves fall off.

Blake looked around for the Professor she had to speak with about this. It wasn't too hard to find her, the class was astoundingly low on people. The professor among them was clearly the blonde woman with glasses wearing a perfectly fit white blouse over a similarly perfect black to violet skirt and standing atop a set of black heels. The only strange accoutrement of hers was the black to violet tentacled cape hanging from her back. Blake made her way down to the bottom where Professor Goodwitch looked out over the arenas as she tapped upon the screen of a tablet she held, "Excuse me."

Goodwitch turned around to see who had addressed her and raised a single eyebrow, "You are?"

"Blake. I came to enter the academy."

"Ah yes, Blake. I was signalled with your arrival. I am Professor Glynda Goodwitch. Take a seat over there behind the active computer to begin your test."

Blake became somewhat confused by the proposal, "I thought this was going to be a combat course…"

Glynda cocked her eyebrow yet again, "This is indeed a combat academy that allows in those who never attended schools, however we must ensure they at least understand the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic in order to function here. You are capable of doing that, aren't you?"

Blake tightened her fist a bit at the same question asked of her about reading, but she kept her cool as well as possible, "Yes Professor."

"Very well then Miss… Miss Blake, you may begin the test whenever you like."

Blake walked over and sat down behind the test computer, the screen showing a button saying "Begin Test." Blake clicked the obvious course. As she went through the multiple choice questions she found them fairly trivial. Little did the mathematics exceed multiplication and division in complexity and the reading and writing seemed not to have a remotely advanced vocabulary involved in them. Blake breezed through the test much more easily than she expected. It seemed it really was just there to allow people entry to a school focused on combat.

Blake stood up from the computer "Hey, I'm done now."

Glynda tapped a bit on her tablet again, "You've passed with full percentage. Excellent work, now if you'll step into the arena we can begin the combat test."

Blake raised one of her own eyebrows, "Are you going to be testing me on that?"

"Don't worry about that Miss Blake, I'm not in that roll today. Miss Adel!" The professor addressed one of the few other people in the classroom seriously. The target of the order rose from her seat bringing her purse along with her. She was a short woman, the short brown haircut she wore lengthened on the right hand side to a highlight of orange and was covered by her brown beret and black sunglasses. The creamed-coffee-brown sweater she wore accented her tight black trousers and heeled boots. All in all Blake could say for certain that this "Adel" woman was entirely fashionable. Blake glanced down at her blouse and suspenders for a split second but immediately looked back up.

"Assigning me to fight this one huh Prof?" The Adel lady asked confidently.

"Yes Miss Adel, both of you get across from each other in that middle ring and we'll begin." The professor responded.

Adel semi ignored the professor and walked up to Blake, standing straight up confidently as she looked at her, "Name's Coco, I'm starting up my second year here but I had nothing to do today so I figured I'd help Prof test for newbies. Let's you and me fight fair and square."

Coco extended her hand towards Blake. The black haired girl paused at the offering of a handshake but Coco then tilted her sunglasses down with her other hand in an obvious symbol of expectation. Blake decided to satisfy the woman just to get it over with and grabbed her hand for the shake. Coco smirked at the satisfactory response, drew back her hand, tilted up her head haughtily and walked, runway style, up the steps and across the ring.

Blake was a bit confused by this act, "Professor…"

"Yes Miss Blake?"

"I heard… Aren't we… allowed to use weapons?"

"Of course. We advertise that about the entry exams for good reason."

Blake shot her look back at Coco who held only a purse confusedly and shrugged "Okay I guess…"

Blake made her way up the steps and stood across from the fashionista. Glynda began speaking as soon as they were both in the appropriate starting positions, "Alright, the rules are simple. You shall fight however you like until your opponent's aura is broken or they are thrown out of the ring. Do not cause any permanent injuries or death to one another, understood?"

Blake nodded and Coco sighed exaggeratedly on purpose, "Yeah, yeah, Prof, let's get going with this already!"

Glynda tapped her glasses up her nose in the middle, "Very well. When I say begin you may start the fight. Ready… Begin!"

In a single instant Coco's supposed purse extended into a gatling gun she held at her hip and a stream of dust propelled bullets tore through the air and began sweeping across the stage towards Blake. Blake was shocked by the surprise gun but she quickly leapt over the hail of fire in the opposite direction it swept, drew her sword, and ran to close with Coco. Coco pulled her sweep back to close with Blake again but this time the black haired girl had a trick up her sleeve. One Blake leapt over the bullets again, but there was a second one who kept running out of the way of them.

Coco gasped a bit at the surprise semblance but then smirked and reacted fast, "You won't fool me Blake!"

Coco reversed the sweep again and brought the bullets down on what she knew had to be the real Blake, the one that leapt back over the spray. The rapid fire maelstrom rained into the target like a deadly buzzsaw, but instead of Blake's aura shattering she merely vanished. The gasping again Coco was duped! She tried reversing her sweep again but it was too late! The closing Blake slid beneath her fire and stabbed her blade between the barrels of the gatling gun, then stood up quick while leaving her sword stuck and unleashed a kick on the head of Coco, knocking her back towards the edge. Blake immediately ran in again to finish the job, but Coco smirked. The fashionista clicked the gun, transforming it back into a purse as the mechanics snapped Blake's black blade. Blake gasped at this as it happened but it was too late, she had already run too far in and couldn't stop her momentum now. Coco brought her metallic purse up in a beautiful uppercut against Blake's chin, knocking the suspendered girl out of the ring and onto the floor.

"Match over! Miss Adel is the winner!" Glynda shouted to put an end to the fight. Blake squeezed her fist tight and a grimace was even brought to her face by her failure. The golden eyed girl stood from her knockdown and began walking up the stairs towards the door quietly. Glynda noticed this and raised an eyebrow, "Where are you going Miss Blake?"

Blake didn't bother turning to show her non cold face as she kept walking "I'm leaving the academy."

"But Miss Blake, you've passed all your tests." Glenda said pointedly.

Blake was shocked a bit and her eyes widened. She stopped and turned back towards the Professor, "What?"

Glynda raised her glasses yet again, "I hardly expected you to win against someone with a year of official combat training opposed to your none, however you were more than competent and talented. I judged you to be perfectly acceptable as a new student here at the academy."

Blake stared blankly at the professor, "I… Well… Okay then…"

Blake, Coco, and Glynda all centered on the floor. Coco brought up Blake's broken blade to her, "Sorry I messed up your weapon, I got really reactive in that fight and it just kinda…"

Blake looked unfeelingly at her simple blade, now snapped in half, "It's fine."

"As a student here at Beacon now you have right to our forge master. He'll produce a custom weapon for you that you can use ever after. In the meantime though do you have a place you can stay?" Glynda asked with a slightly more soft tone than she usually did.

Blake grabbed her arm embarrassed, "No. I... didn't come from a home…"

Glynda grabbed a keycard off the nearby table and handed it to Blake, "In that case you may stay at this dorm room temporarily until we put you with your team. Miss Adel would you show her to her room?"

Blake immediately raised her hand in a stopping gesture, "That's alright I think I can find it by myself."

Blake immediately turned away from the other two and walked right up the steps out the door. Coco pulled down her glasses a bit yet again, "I tell you what Prof, that right there is one mystery girl."

Glynda turned lecturingly to Coco, "Miss Adel, it is a student's abilities, not their past, that we consider when admitting them."

Coco threw up her hands accordingly, "I know, I know."

Glynda put her attention back on Blake as the violet suspender girl opened the door and stepped out, "Still… Perhaps she would benefit from me keeping an eye on her…"

Blake found her way through the courtyard to the dorms and the one she'd been placed in temporarily relatively easily. After she stepped in and shut the door behind her she leaned back against it, slid down, and let loose a sigh. After a pause doing nothing she placed her backpack in front of her, opened it up and reached in. Out of it she pulled a tattered novel titled "Two Souls." She opened the book to where it had been marked by a photograph and pulled the picture out, beginning her read.


	4. Volume 1 Chapter 4: Welcome to Beacon

Around beacon were hundreds of young men and women, all of them walking around the grounds, crowding the boards, conversing and laughing with one another. The year of instruction had begun. Stepping through the gates to witness the bustling crowd of hunt-students were a girl of red and her sister of yellow.

"Alright Rubes, you and I gotta go sign in to this place, after that we'll go to the orientation and get ourselves settled in." The blonde Yang explained to the advanced in grade girl.

Ruby looked out upon the grounds a little timidly, "Yeah let's go ahead and get out of the crowd…"

Yang hummed ponderingly at the obvious shyness of her little sister, "Actually little sis... I bet you I can get us both signed in on my own! Why don't you go explore around a little for us so we know where everything is right off the bat?"

"Explore?! Through all these older people?! On my own?!"

"There's nothing tough about it," Yang lilted in confidence, "go over and take a picture of the map on that board with your scroll and you'll find your way 'round easy as pie! Just make your way over to the auditorium before the clock hits five and you're good!"

At this statement Yang took Ruby by the shoulders and twisted her to look away from her big sis and towards the map board. As soon as her shoulders got released Ruby turned back around towards her sister, "Yang I can't…"

Upon her turning though Ruby was made aware that Yang was no longer behind her. In fact among the crowd gathered upon the grounds the red hooded girl was unable to see her big sister at all. From the lungs bound by her gothic corset was issued a powerful groan of upset at her sister's act of kicking her out the nest. Unfortunately, with no idea where that sister of hers had gone she had no other options. On the way over to the map board Ruby grumbled out her self talk in frustration.

"Dumb Yang with her dumb plan. 'Oh Rubes you need to wander around lost and make friends with complete strangers and get hit on by random older boys!'" Ruby mimicked Yangs voice with mocking inaccuracy as she used her right hand to move like a mouth puppet, "I can't believe she's protecting me from the stuff I can handle one minute and leaving me alone with the stuff I can't the next!"

Ruby continued stomping her way to the board angrily but failed to notice her peripheral vision for something about to obstruct her path. With no warning Ruby felt herself collide with something seemingly out of nowhere to her. As she fell down onto her skirt covered rear she heard baggage sounding clunks combined with the noise of glass bottles rolling out across the stone footpath, "Ow! Just what on Remnant are you doing running into me you clumsy oaf!"

Upon looking upon where this angrily interrogating voice came from Ruby saw a white haired girl sitting on a white skirt as she sat on her black one. Ruby immediately stood up, quickly grabbed and pulled up the other girl, and started bending over to gather the bottles that had fallen out of the large case she could now see, "I'm so sorry! Here let me…"

"Give me those!" The snowflake symboled girl snatched the bottles back from Ruby, "Are you crazy?! If you go around trying to mess with these bottles they'll probably blow up in your hands and destroy the only luggage these beacon people let me bring in!"

"I… I was just trying to…"

"Trying to what?! Bring down an heiress?!"

"What? I didn't know…"

"She's Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company." Both Ruby and Weiss turned to see a black clothed girl with a bow and violet suspenders walking up to them with a picked up bottle of dust in one of her hands.

Weiss huffed confidently and tilted her head up in arrogance, "Well it seems my reputation precedes me after all…"

The black dressed girl continued on with her monologue immediately without acknowledging Weiss' words, "Of course what she said about the dust was wrong. It won't go off until a spark from a primer or an electrical ignition sets it off. As heiress to the world's biggest dust mine I can only think she was either being stupid about it," the black garbed girl paused and turned her head to shoot a narrow glance at the Schnee heiress, "or lying about it."

At the end of the dark clothed young woman's little speech Weiss gasped in a bit of shock at the accusations, "I… I…" Weiss stopped stuttering and growled at both the black and red girls before sticking her nose up again, "I hardly need to take any of this from either of you low trash girls!"

Weiss snatched away the bottle from the black dressed girl, stuffed it and the rest of them hurriedly back into her luggage, then turned the snowflake symboled back of her blouse towards the two others before marching away in a huff. Ruby sighed in relief then turned towards the nightshaded girl, "Thanks for that, I really couldn't…"

Ruby now noticed what she hadn't had any sense of before, the black haired girl had already turned her back on the scarlet cape as well and was walking off in the opposite direction from Schnee. Ruby reached her hand out and nearly called out to the dark clothed young woman who had spoken away her bully but she hesitated. The red hooded girl lowered her arm back to her side and tilted her head forward disappointed, "I guess she didn't care about helping me after all…"

"Need some help?" Ruby immediately turned her gaze back up to see a blonde, mop-headed man a good foot (and possibly more) taller than her wearing a white breastplate over top of a black hoodie with nothing but some jeans and sneakers on his legs and what she saw as a sword strapped to his side. "Name's Arc, Jaune Arc, short, sweet, and to the point."

Jaune cocked a smile at the little red hooded woman and extended his hand in an obvious request to shake. Ruby hesitated for a bit but extended her own hand back and Jaune took it and shook it sturdily, "My name's Ruby, Rose Ru… I mean Ruby Rose!"

After a slight pause at the awkward introduction Jaune said with maximum politeness, "Well Misd Rose, I heard you say something about help on my way by and like my grandfather always said, 'If a girl's in trouble, help her on the double!'"

Ruby let her guard down at the boys weird quote and even let out her snort like chuckle through her smirk at it, "Your grandfather must have been a real ladies man."

Jaune rubbed the back of his necked and blushed in a bit of embarrassment as he began walking alongside the now moving Ruby, "Yeah maybe not but he's sort of the reason I came here this year so… you know…"

"Yeah, sorry, not really." Ruby said with a scoff of self annoyance, "Only reason I'm here is because when I followed my sister to her enrollment we saw the headmaster and he decided to let me in two years too early." Ruby hung her head a tad bit at this reveal.

Jaune showed a bit of concern at the low mood the red hooded girl was clearly in, but on instinct he came up with a bright solution. Jaune deliberately got wide eyed as he pointed at Ruby while in a stunned forward leaning pose, "Wait! You're only fifteen? I just thought you were a little shorter than average…"

Ruby immediately raised her head up to glare at him and pointed right back, "You're one to talk you giant mop head! It isn't my fault I only ended up this tall after I drank all that milk…"

Both of the new students paused staring at each other for a bit as Ruby pointed her index finger at Jaune's face before they let out each of their weird laughs loudly and at the same time. The two kept up with their humorous reaction for a bit before settling down at the same time too. Jaune extended his hand again to Ruby, "What do you say Ruby? Friends?"

Ruby raised one of her eyebrows and paused, in an obviously sarcastic imitation of scepticism, before slapping her hand into Jaune's and shaking it trustingly, "Of course! After all why else would I be following you around?"

Jaune rubbed his neck yet again, "Uh… But… I was the one following you…" The two of them began looking around awkwardly at the portion of the grounds they were in, yet unfamiliar with. Jaune dropped his head and quickly rattled off, "You and I are both lost, aren't we?"

Ruby now rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment, "Yeah I… might have forgotten to get a map on my scroll like my sister told me to…" Just then five rings sounded out across the grounds and Ruby's eyes widened, "Oh no, oh no, oh no! We're late for the orientation! We gotta go!"

Ruby grabbed Jaune by the hand and he let out an "Ack!" surprise noise as she pulled him along and ran straight towards where the sound of the bell had come from.

* * *

Within the newly crowded auditorium Yang tapped her foot both angered and worried. Ruby hadn't met up with her and the orientation was about to start, "Maybe pushing her out the nest today was a bad idea…"

The halls door busted open and through the chattering groups of new students pushed a small red cloak dragging along a large white breastplate. The two kept winding along in a serpentine pattern until they pulled up to the point where they were within hairs of accidentally running into the golden locked girl, "Yang! I'msorryI'mlateIranintothisprincessandforgottogetthemapbeforeIwanderedaroundwiththisguyandsoIgotlost…"

Yang stopped the girl talking by grabbing one of her shoulders with the left hand and covering her mouth with the right, "Ruby! Slow down I can't understand a word you're saying!"

As Yang slowly took her hand down off Ruby's mouth she let out an exhale in a self calming manner, "I was late because we got lost."

"We?" Yang asked then looked over her and the tall boy beside her, noticing how she held onto his arm by the wrist. The tall blonde girl leaned down to eye level with her sister and put up a hand to hide one side of her immensely smiling mouth from the boy as she whispered loudly, "All this time of acting shy and then one day in here you pick up a tall older hunk? Ruby Rose you are one sly little lady…"

Ruby's face went extremely red at the implication and she immediately released her grip on Jaune to put up both her hands in a rapid refusive wave, "It's not like that! Jaune's just my new friend!"

At the explanation of this point Yang stood up straight and cast a flirtatious gaze on the white knight, "Is that so? Well in that case Jaune," Yang said the name in a separate deliberately soft tone, "I'm Yang Xiao Long, it's an absolute pleasure to meet you…" Ruby rolled her eyes and groaned softly at her sister's behavior but Jaune couldn't help but instinctively and mindlessly casting his gaze slowly down over the voluptuous body of the long legged blonde. The golden haired girl took the opportunity to change her pose to a more enticing forward leaning one, "Like what you see big guy?"

Jaune opened his mouth hesitantly but before he could say anything Ruby generated a stern voice, "Yang!"

The blonde girl leaned back the opposite direction as she gripped her sides and laughed heartily. She eventually settled down and wiped down her eyes watered with humor, "Oh relax Rubes, I was just having a little fun with your buddy!"

"Yeah, just like you have with every dude you like the looks of…" the scarlet sibling muttered as the white swordsman coughed deliberately over his reddened face in response to the apparent false flirting.

Yang ignored the reference to her wonton market behavior and moved back into the original line of questions, "Anyway why'd you guys get lost? Don't you have the map?"

"She forgot to get it." Jaune pointed out casually.

Ruby turned towards Jaune, "It wasn't my fault I forgot! I ran into that heiress and she argued around with me so much I got my thoughts thrown off!" Ruby then stabbed her index finger into the middle of Jaune's breastplate repeatedly, "It doesn't help that the guy I thought I was following because he came to help me thought he was following me!"

Jaune immediately lowered his head, "Yeah I admit that was pretty dumb…"

During the little friendship altercation Yang was rubbing her chin ponderously, "Who's this heiress chick you got in a fight with?"

Ruby issued a gritty sigh of grudgingness as she raised her hands to make quotation marks and made her voice mockingly nasally "Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company."

Yang gave out a laughing snort, "The SDC princess came here instead of Atlas? You really came at an unlucky time Rubes."

Ruby gazed off to the side, "Yeah, I'm starting to think that myself…"

Yang punched her left palm in a confident pose, "Well no choice then. Let's go find this girl and make sure there's no grudge between you!"

Yang grabbed Ruby by the arm and began dragging her through the crowd. Jaune immediately shrugged and followed as Ruby started trying to avert Yang from her current forceful goal and pry herself from her big sister's grip with no success, "Wait! No! Yang stop it!"

Eventually the blonde girl walked up behind the very princess she'd been looking for. "Yo ice queen!" The wild haired woman called out to her target.

The heiress turned towards the call, saw the blonde bombshell stepping towards her, looked around to see no one next to her, and, wide eyed pointed a finger at her own face to accidentally squeak, "Me?"

"Yeah you." The golden girl answered sternly, "Are you Weiss Schnee?"

The white ponytailed maiden stood in her poised state at this and replied masterfully, "Yes I am Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company."

"So then you're the one who tried bullying my little sister huh?" At this Yang yanked Ruby from behind her back and held the hooded youth in front of herself while glaring at the target.

Ruby awkwardly forced a chuckle out of herself and raised a forearm that wasn't held tight to her side as her upper arms were to wave at Weiss, "Hi… Weiss…"

Weiss gasped and flinched a little at the intimidating action, but upon seeing Ruby her eyes narrowed and she stood straight again, "Your sister," she spat out and paused, "nearly got my personal dust supply lost when she knocked over me and my luggage by running into us."

Yang narrowed her own eyes at the haughty voice of the heiress but looked down at Ruby, "Is that true Ruby?"

Ruby tilted up her head at the big sis holding her tight and nodded, "Yeah pretty much but…"

Yang looked up from Ruby again mid sentence, "Alright then," the blonde chick pushed her sister forward to be close to the Schnee, "apologize for knocking her over."

Ruby twisted her neck to look back over her shoulders at Yang "But Yang I already…"

"Ruby…" Yang drew out in a scolding strict tone.

"Fine." Ruby groaned out before looking at Weiss poutingly, "I'm sorry I knocked you and your stuff over. I'll be careful never to do it again."

Yang aimed an intimidating glare at Weiss, "I suggest you accept the apology ice queen."

Weiss couldn't help but gulp in reaction to the glare. She immediately turned back to look at Ruby in a forcibly polite but straight laced manner, "I accept your apology Ruby."

Yang grinned in a tough manner, "Great!" The gold maned girl yanked Ruby back behind her, "I hope you two get along from now on!" Yang stepped forward a bit and brought crimson eyes together with sky blue ones as she grinned carnivorously, "Because if you don't…"

The blonde bombshell's right fist met her left palm in a loud collision right in front of the shorter female's face. The white haired girl let out another squeak involuntarily then hurriedly responded, "Right, of course, now if you'll excuse me I must be going."

As the heiress quickly turned and tapped her high heels away the side sitting Jaune decided to contribute a tad bit to the conversation, "I uh… liked your snowflake logo Miss Schnee!"

Weiss started walking away even faster at this remark. As soon as she was out of site Yang fumed at the two others, "What a fake little noble lady! Ruby if I were you I'd avoid her altogether."

"I don't know…" Jaune said as he gazed out still in the direction she had gone though she was no longer visible among the crowd, "She didn't seem so bad to me, she was pretty at least…"

"You can be lured in by anybody huh Jaune?" Yang said as she grinned amused by the boy. She began jabbing his arm with her elbow, "I'd watch out if I were you too, if you get with her she'll probably treat you like a servant! Then again you probably might not mind getting dominated a little huh?"

Jaune's face got beat red but he answered through his blush, "Well Yang not really, after all like grandpa always said, 'sometimes you gotta give the lady what she wants but sometimes you gotta take what you want from her.'"

Yang burst out laughing at the old man quote, "Damn Jaune! Your gramps must have been a real ladies man huh?"

Ruby started snorting back some laughter herself and Jaune slumped his shoulders at the girls in reaction, "Yeah, Yeah, hardy har har… Not my fault the old man is the only one who ever gave me lady advice…"

Yang kept laughing and slapped his back, "Don't worry Jauney boy! I'll give you plenty of it!"

As the two sisters kept laughing they were interrupted by a loud tapping squealing noise that went through the whole auditorium, "Testing, testing… Ahhh Excellent!" The entire crowd in the hall became instantly silent and turned to look towards the stage. There in the center, behind a wooden podium mounted with a microphone, was a lanky, gray haired man with small dark glasses and a green ascot beneath his blazer leaning slightly on a cane with a clockwork head.

"Hello students," the old man said into the good sounding microphone, "I've met some of you already, but in case I was unable to get around to you my name is Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy."

A few murmurs issued forth from the area around Ruby from various students.

"That's Ozpin?"

"What's with that stuff in the cane?"

"He's… Taller… than I thought he'd be…"

Ozpin kept going regardless of the slight sound now issuing forth, "Every one of you students has been accepted into this prestigious organization in order to become a Huntsman or Huntress." At this much of the crowd let out a cheer at their collective dream. Ozpin waved his hand in a lowering motion while still having his gentle smile and slight chuckle, "Alright, settle down, settle down. It's good of each of you to be excited, however before we begin your classes there is one last thing we need to do."

The crowd looked around at each other a little confused as Ozpin kept going, "As huntsmen your primary tasks are the fighting of criminals, and the killing… of Grimm. Either way, going in on your own is suicidal. You need a team. A team you can trust, a team you've trained with for years, a team you were assigned right here."

"Oh right, forgot about that." Yang whispered at Jaune and Ruby.

Ruby looked over at Jaune, "I kinda hope they put us on a team together."

Jaune opened his mouth to answer but Yang, who hadn't seen which way Ruby was speaking said something first, "They'd better. Ain't nobody looks out for you as good as I do."

"I wouldn't mind if either of you looked out for me." Jaune said, adapting cleverly to the interruption.

Yang slugged Jaune gently in the upper arm, "Wanna be on a team with us girls huh Mister Tall Boy? Oh yeah Jaune, we'll definitely have to look out for you."

Ozpin's speech continued on after the pause he gave for the realization of the team's being assigned. Through his smile he said, "Of course if the faculty merely told you your assigned team that would be no fun!" After this a large projection screen rolled down behind the headmaster on stage. Upon it shone the image of a forest covered completely by a canopy of differently colored leaves. "Behold forever fall! An outdoor training ground belonging to our school. The trees here are not losing their leaves but rather using different chemicals than chlorophyll to harness the sun, making it appear as though autumn there lasts year round. More importantly though, within it are some Grimm which we have captured and released there, kept inside by the large wall surrounding the area."

A few murmurings began again but Ozpin didn't stop this time, having to much oratory momentum at this point, "You will all be assigned numbers. Your task will be to get put into the woods at one of the gates surrounding it randomly, find all three of your teammates with the numbers that match yours, then come out of the woods together, all the while avoiding or dealing with the Grimm. We will be observing all of you through various cameras set up through the forest. Whichever one of your teammates takes the best charge through this will be assigned as your team leader."

The murmurs now turned to an excited tone among the students. Most everyone wanted to try for leadership it seemed. Ozpin finally gave a pause to let them let their new sense of motivation out a little before he continued, "Now since we assign you all dorm rooms based on teams and we don't wish to prematurely reveal to you who you're with tonight we have set up camps just outside the forever fall. Males you shall be making camp by Professor Port." Ozpin gestured toward a rotund old man to his left who had a mustache, wore a burgundy outfit, and waved happily at the crowd, "As for you females you shall be camping with Professor Goodwitch." He now pointed to his right where an extremely professionally dressed blonde woman with glasses stood sternly holding a riding crop behind her back.

"Simply follow them out of each of these outside doors," Ozpin said, pointing to the two sets of doors behind him, "and they'll lead you to the camps and get you settled in there." Ozpin began turning away from the podium in a seemingly abrupt end to the speech and the students began getting a bit confused again, but then he suddenly snapped his fingers and remanned the mic, "Oh! I almost forgot one last thing…" The student body seemed to hold its breath as Ozpin paused for a time that seemed longer than it was, "Welcome to Beacon Academy."

With that the old man walked off the stage, tapping his cane along the way.


	5. Volume 1 Chapter 5: Boys Camp vs Girls C

Volume 1 Chapter 5: Boys Camp vs. Girls Camp

The female students made rank and file behind the fast, yet precise walking Professor Goodwitch as she hiked them down the large path towards the female camp, their packs filled with weapons, ammunition, and slumber gear. Yang looked over to the similarly burdened group of boys following along behind the show offishly high kneeing, arm swinging, cadence calling Professor Port to their right, "Hey, hey, whiskey Jack Jack!"

The boy huntsman students all got together to echo back each line at an even greater volume, "HEY, HEY, WHISKEY JACK JACK!"

"Meet me down by the railroad track track!"

"MEET ME DOWN BY THE RAILROAD TRACK TRACK!"

"With a bottle in my hand!"

"WITH A BOTTLE IN MY HAND!"

"I'm gonna be a drinking man!"

"I'M GONNA BE A DRINKING MAN!"

"A drinking man!"

"A DRINKING MAN!"

Yang giggled at the first line and whispered to Ruby in their sternly silent formation, "The only guy over there who's not too underage to drink is old man Port himself! Makes sense though since he's named after the stuff!"

Ruby and some of the surrounding girls who heard the same whisper began giggling along with Yang. Glynda on the other hand growled a bit at the semi-inappropriate cadence as Peter Port continued, "Hey, hey, whiskey Jack Jack!"

"HEY, HEY, WHISKEY JACK JACK!"

"Meet me down by the railroad track track!"

"MEET ME DOWN BY THE RAILROAD TRACK TRACK!"

"With a woman in my hands!"

Glynda immediately shot an intense glare at Port as she walked the path left of his and shouted at him intensely, "PROFESSOR PETER PORT!"

The male formation immediately stopped their near response and looked wide eyed over at Glynda just as Port did. Peter shifted his look immediately to an apologetic one with red on his cheeks while giving a sorry chuckle before turning his view back towards the boys following behind him, "Ah!… yes!… well!... I think we shall… skip that line men!"

"AYE PROFESSOR!" Went up the happy response to the male Prof's order of adaptation to Glynda's interruption. The entire female formation save Glynda herself burst out with a giggle at the cut off cadence as Glynda snapped her view back forward and growled at all the acts which surrounded her.

As the males resumed the rest of "Whiskey Jack" Yang began whispering again with Ruby, "Damn. It sure sucks we aren't allowed to camp together with the boys…"

"I think it's because they're trying to stop girls like you from taking advantage of them." Ruby giggled as she smirked at Yang.

Yang crossed her arms over her large chest and pouted a bit, "It ain't like they wouldn't like it…"

"Yeah well maybe if you try telling that to Professor Goodwitch you can get us put together." Ruby slid out sarcastically.

"Ugh. Goodwitch..." Yang groaned quietly, "Having her is even worse than _not_ having the boys. She's so strict she carries around that thing to wrist slap you with. I bet you the only reason she keeps the guys away is because none have ever been brave enough or dumb enough to ask her out."

Ruby snorted at the bet, "That's real good coming from you Miss zero out of, what was it? Fifty...three I think?"

"I-I was just messing around ok? If I'd meant it they all woulda been mine!" Yang rebutted, bending angrily towards Ruby at the first sentence before standing up more confidently with the second.

"Well in that case I'll just include Jaune for fifty four." Ruby smirked.

Yang humphed and shut her mouth as they continued marching on. Eventually they made it to the camp as the sun began to set. Large autumn colored tents which could easily fit many sleepers together were encircled around huge fire pits surrounded by benches. Two such arrangements were stationed there with a waist high rope divider delineating the division between the male and female sides. Port put up a left fist indicating the males to halt before turning around to face them.

Glynda on the other hand turned around in a snappy about face, immediately causing the female formation to skid to a halt to stop from accidentally hitting her, "Welcome to our field exercise camp girls. Tomorrow morning we shall begin the team hunt but tonight you will be resting here. You will be on the left side while the boys will be on the right. Do _not_ attempt to go intermingle with the males in secret from us professors! Each of us will be watching out to ensure anyone who tries such a thing will get themselves put right back where they are supposed to be immediately."

"Well so much for that plan…" Yang whispered to Ruby out of the corner of her mouth.

"Now all of you go settle your sleeping arrangements inside those tents," Glynda advised, "after that you may do whatever you like until morning, though I heavily suggest you get some good sleep before the exercise begins at eight o' clock."

With that Glynda turned around and made her way over to the small, single individual tent looking over the whole camp from atop a small hill. Clearly the professor's quarters. The girls all wandered off towards whichever large tent they wanted. Yang grabbed Ruby and the two went to one on the right side close to the boys and the bonfire. As the girls began setting their sleep gear on the cots next to each other Yang started discussing the situation, "Well Rubes looks like we've got a bunch of down time, maybe now you can get some girlfriends just like you got your _boyfriend."_

Yang wiggled her eyebrows in implication at Ruby who threw a pillow at her face in response. When the pillow fell down to reveal Yang's humorously grinning face Ruby responded, "He's _not_ my boyfriend. He's my friend. _Just_ a friend, ok?"

Yang shrugged and held her hands up with her eyes closed, "I dunno about that Rubes, you did come crashing through that audience holding his hand after all…"

"Ugh. Would you please stop it Yang?"

"Fine fine, think the way you wanna think Rubes, but for the shy girl who never made friends on Patch it sure was surprising to see you make one in one day here." Yang bent to look Ruby directly in her silver eyes and grinned like a fox, "Might be the inexperienced girl is experiencing something new and can't tell what it actually is."

Yang flicked Ruby's nose with her index finger to drive home her point, "Ow!" Ruby said, grabbing her flicked out of nowhere nose. She immediately glared at her older sister and shot back, "Whatever Yang, it isn't like you know anything about what you're talking about either!"

Ruby turned and began walking towards the tent flaps and Yang began talking through some laughter, "And where exactly are you headed off to now? To go sneak over to see your _boyfriend_ maybe?"

"_No_**, **I'm going anywhere in _our_ camp that isn't close to _you_!" With that, and before another word from Yang, Ruby batted one of the tent flaps open and stormed out into the camp.

* * *

The boys camp was alive with various activities. Meat and marshmallows both grilled at the bonfire. Pairs of young men threw balls between each other or engaged in wrestling matches while others played hands of cards against each other, some throwing them down in frustration, others in smugness. Jaune paced around through all of it somewhat unengaged looking. He stopped and kicked at a small rock gently, "Guess I'm all alone… again…"

Jaune looked over towards the border between the camps. There, slumped down, snoring, and hugging his blunderbuss in a rocking chair was Professor Port. "Hmmm… I bet I could…"

"Planning on crossing into the girls camp?" A monotone voice sounded from behind Jaune.

Jaune flinched in surprise, letting out a small scream, and spun around to see who had snuck up on him. He saw a man nearly as tall as him with long black hair highlighted with a single pink lock wearing a green vacuan tunic over white trousers. Jaune coughed artificially to cover his fright, "Uh… No, of course not, after all an Arc never breaks the rules!" The other lad with his crossed arms merely cocked an eyebrow at the obvious lie so Jaune decided to add more to it, "The, uh, only reason I was over here… was… I…" Jaune looked past the jade dragon towards what the other men were engaged in, "I didn't want to make the other guys lose anything and get upset over it!"

The single eyebrow remained cocked, "Is that so?"

Jaune paused a bit at the neutral question, "Uh, yeah, of course it is! After all, a guy like me who spent his whole life lifting hay bales, carrying feed sacks, and chopping firewood would definitely out wrestle these guys!"

The expression of the verdant man still didn't change, "I see."

Jaune couldn't tell what the pink locke's goal questioning him was so he decided to turn things around, "Well then Mr… Mysterious! What exactly are you doing here huh?"

The jade dragon lowered his eyebrow and gently faced the rope guard, "I'm here to stop it when someone tries to cross the barrier against the rules." Jaune gulped in fear that this boy was indeed the agent of a teacher. The grass colored lad meanwhile continued standing there until a rustle could be heard coming from across the way, "Ah. There she is now."

"Huh?" Jaune turned his head towards where the wide sleeved arm was now pointing. There, crawling low, crouching, tiptoeing, and zigzagging among the tents and bushes was an average height girl with neck length, light red hair. Upon her she wore a black collared vest over a white shirt which showed her cleavage through a heart. All that concealed her legs was a short, pink skirt.

The girl snuck up behind Port's chair and waved her hand in front of his face to ensure his slumber was not an act. When it was clear to her that he was truly asleep with a soldier like look on her face she did a tactical roll forward, popped up to her feet in front of the green clad lad, and put him in a bone crushing embrace, "REN! You were here right like I told you to be! Our perfect plan worked!"

"Nora," Ren said scoldingly, "you need to go back over to the girls side or else you'll get into trouble."

Nora released Ren, crossed her arms in front of him and pouted, "But Ren," she said in a drawn out wine, "we've slept together every night since we were kids, and the girls over there are all weird, and the professor is a tyrant, and who's gonna brush your hair in the morning if I'm not here, and…"

"NORA," Ren exclaimed to put a stop to the rant that was having the redhead run low on breath, then went back to his calmer voice, "we can both go one night without seeing each other."

"But what if we get assigned different numbers and put on different teams huh?" Nora grabbed Ren by the upper arms, began shaking him back and forth, and said in a low, gritty, fearful voice, "THIS. COULD BE. OUR LAST. NIGHT. TOGETHER."

Ren sighed, "In that case last night would have been our last night Nora."

Jaune chimed in, "Uh… are you two boyfriend and girlfriend?"

Nora immediately went red and pushed away Ren immediately, "NO!" She shouted before switching quickly to a forcefully chuckling voice, "No. Ren's just a boy who's my friend. My best friend. But not my boyfriend! We've just been together for such a long time. Oh, but not 'together' together!"

Ren sighed again as he brought his fingers to his forehead and closed his eyes. Jaune held his chin and nodded in false understanding of Nora's rant. Nora continued ranting until out of nowhere it appeared she was put in a bone crushing embrace, "MISS VALKYRIE!"

"OH NO SHE FOUND ME! QUICK REN, RUN AWAY! SAVE YOURSELF!" Nora cried in fear.

Ren stood right where he was and sighed once more, "Hello Professor Goodwitch."

Glynda nodded towards the boy and addressed him cordially, "Mister Ren." Nora struggled against the force holding her in place and Glynda shot her glare towards her again, "Now back to you Miss Valkyrie, this is the third time I've caught you attempting to intrude on the boys!"

Nora grunted against the invisible shackles, "Urgh! It's not like that Professor! I wasn't intruding on anybody! I was just trying to see Ren!"

"When we're finished with this exercise you'll be able to see him plenty between classes and the disciplinary lectures you'll receive from me for your sneaking around." Glynda said sternly and began dragging Nora back to the girls camp through her telekinesis. Nora groaned in defeat as Glynda walked past Port, "Professor Port!"

The old man fumbled himself awake, nearly dropping his gun as he looked around wildly before managing to find Glynda right next to him, "Ah! Professor Goodwitch!"

Glynda didn't wait for more, "If you wouldn't mind Professor I would appreciate it if you could remain awake to stop students like this," she said, instantly levitating Nora in front of Port's face, "from sneaking into your camp."

"Of-of course Professor! Why such a girl couldn't get past me if they were invisible! I have the nose of a bloodhound you know!"

Glynda's face remained straight at this, "Very well."

The female professor left and the male professor went right back to his resting position in his rocking chair. Jaune looked over at the head shaking Ren, "So… That Nora girl… What exactly is your relationship with her?"

Ren looked up at the white knight, "She and I have been all each other have had since we were small. We've taken care of each other ever since then and it has made Nora very… attached."

Jaune perked up a bit at the explanation, "Hey man I get it. Back home I've got seven sisters I've had to take care of."

Ren actually cracked a bit of a smile at Jaune, "I can barely handle one, seven would be a nightmare."

The two chuckled a bit, "Yeah they're a real handful." Jaune admitted before pausing and extending his hand to shake, "Name's Arc, Jaune Arc, nice to meetcha."

The other boy paused at this but bowed at the waist slightly, "I am Lie Ren. The girl you saw crossover was my friend, Nora Valkyrie. It is a pleasure to meet you as well Jaune."

Jaune's stomach started growling and he blushed in embarrassment as he put his hand to his belly, "Say… how bout you and I go get some chow they've been cooking over at the bonfire?"

Ren smiled as he bent slightly at the hip and put his arms out in an "after you" gesture, "Lead the way my friend."

"Of course!" Jaune held his back straight, put his chin up, and began marching towards the bonfire while Ren followed along with a chuckle.

Unbeknownst to those two one of Port's eyes slightly opened, "Hmmm… Jaune Arc eh?..."

* * *

Ruby stomped her way through camp angrily, "God! Why does Yang always have to be so… so... boy obsessed?! It's not like either of us hit on each other! All Jaune did was try to help me like a gentleman hero from one of the stories…" Ruby's face reddened a bit but she quickly shook her head, "Argh! This kind of thinking is all her fault!"

Ruby stalked through the camp trying to get to a quiet location where Yang wouldn't find her. Eventually she found one but saw in surprise that it was already occupied. The girl in the black street kid's clothes held up by the violet suspenders sat before her flipping the pages of a somewhat worn looking book. Ruby's face went from angry to recognizing as she whispered softly to herself, "The girl from before…"

This quiet sound immediately registered with the reading girl whose golden eyes looked up at the red hooded girl and narrowed, "Oh. It's you."

The black dressed girl's eyes immediately pivoted back to her book and continued reading. Ruby paused for a bit and nearly turned around, but instead she kept standing there. Ruby took a couple of steps forward, "Um…" The other girl glanced up at Ruby yet again, "Since I found you I'd… I'd like to thank you…"

The long haired girl stared again at the red highlighted one, "For what?"

Ruby looked a little confused at the question, "Well, you know… You got that mean ice queen Weiss to leave me alone. I was really grateful for that."

The black clad girl grabbed her upper arm and turned her head a little away, "I didn't do it for you. You shouldn't thank me."

Ruby walked up closer to the nightshaded woman, "Even if you weren't trying to help me you did anyway, so, like I said before, thank you."

The dark clothed girl didn't say anything back for a bit but then opened her mouth with a very slight color change on her cheeks, "Fine."

Ruby smiled at this and sat down right next to the other girl extending her hand towards her, "I'm Ruby Rose."

The other girl looked at the hand but didn't touch it, "Blake."

Blake looked back down at her book and continued reading. Ruby force chuckled and drew her hand back to rub the back of her head, "So uh… What's that book Blake?"

Blake didn't look up again at the question, "Two Souls."

"What's it about?" Ruby asked sweetly.

Blake sighed, placed a mark on the page she was at and closed the book before looking over at Ruby again, "It's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control of his body."

"That sounds really interesting!"

"It is, so if you don't mind, I'd like to read it... Alone." Blake narrowed her eyes at Ruby.

Ruby drew her eyes out of contact with Blake's, "Oh, ok…" Ruby stood up with her shoulders sagging a little and took a few steps away but turned around a little, "You know, I've read lots of the hero stories ever since I was a kid, and before I could read my sister read them to me. She takes care of me a lot but sometimes she says things that really get under my skin." Ruby gave a small single chuckle, "That's the whole reason I tried hiding here, but… I get that I'm just annoying you now so… I'll just try to find somewhere else…"

Ruby turned back and began walking slowly away again. Blake watched as this happened and couldn't help that a grimace came to her face, "Wait!" Ruby instantly looked back at Blake who refused to meet eyes with the red hood, "If you really want to hide from your sister… you can do it here. Without talking!"

A great smile came to Ruby's face and she rushed towards Blake, embracing her by surprise and eliciting a shout from her, "Thank you so much Blake!"

"Get! Off of me! Ruby!" Blake said while pushing the younger girl.

Ruby retracted voluntarily immediately at this, "Oh! Right! Sorry Blake!"

Ruby immediately sat silently and Blake sighed, "It's fine just… don't do it again."

Ruby nodded repeatedly and silently with a grin and Blake made an annoyed growl, shook her head, then looked back to her book, reopened it, and restarted her reading.

* * *

Yang sat on one of the benches which surrounded the bonfire with her head in her hands while her elbows rested on her knees, "Dammit Rubes, where are you? I looked freakin' everywhere!"

Immediately another girl was dropped onto the bench right next to Yang. Yang swung her head to see the heart chested redhead pouting with crossed arms while Goodwitch stood behind her, "You stay right there Miss Valkyrie and don't try anything like that again!" Glynda shifted her eyes over to Yang, "Miss Xiao Long."

Yang snapped her gaze directly at Goodwitch, "Yes Professor?"

"Please keep an eye on Miss Valkyrie and report to me if she tries to go too far away from the bonfire before bedtime."

Yang wasn't exactly satisfied with the female Prof, but she wasn't exactly trying to get in trouble either, "Sure thing Prof, I'll just distract her by making friends." Glynda nodded sharply and walked back towards the Professor tent. Yang looked over at Miss Valkyrie, "So. What's your first name?"

"Nora." She said, still arm crossed and pouting.

"Nice name." Yang said, "So. Imma guess you tried to get into the boys camp. Amirite?"

"Yup." Nora drew out the word and lip popped the P sound at the end.

"And then you got caught by Goodwitch."

"All three times."

"Any reason you tried it so much?"

"I just really wanted to see this one dude."

Yang sighed, "I feel ya sister…"

Weiss Schnee walked around near the benches as all this was going on. Nora stood up from the bench swiftly, "I can't believe she won't let me and Ren spend one last night together!" With this angry exclamation Nora kicked at the nearest unimportant looking object to her, which just so happened to be a bucket of water. A splash of the hydrative source went all over the top of the bonfire, turning the flames into a cloud of steam and issuing a cry of outrage from nearly every girl who surrounded the bonfire. Nora made an embarrassed looking pose, "Sorry! Sorry! I swear I didn't know what was in there!"

Weiss watched for a second as the girls all continued to point and blame through the apology and decided to take some charge, "All of you be quiet!" Every lady was immediately silenced and they all shifted their gaze towards the heiress. Weiss cleared her throat in a cordial manner, "I can easily relight this flame so there's no point to any of you complaining."

"Oh yeah ice queen?" Yang shot out at Weiss with a sarcastic grin, "And just how're you gonna do that?"

Rather than being intimidated by the golden maned girl again Weiss gazed at her with an upturned chin and a smug smile, "Why it's quite simple _Miss barbarian_!"

Weiss drew from her side the masterly crafted rapier Myrtenaster as quickly as one could and immediately thrust its point forward towards the pile of steaming bonfire logs, issuing forth from it a huge jet of flame. As the fire jet hit the extinguished lumber it expanded into a fireball that came within a hair's breadth of touching the young women who surrounded it, causing many to recoil in fear. When the bonfire went back to its original burning state Yang dropped the arm she'd raised up defensively and yelled at Weiss, "What the hell ice queen?! You nearly burnt us alive! Do stuff like that and you'll set the whole woods on fire!"

Weiss turned up her nose at the gold mane and her gaze away from it, "Please. My dust accuracy is precise. None of you were in any danger. As a matter of fact you should be thanking me!" The group of girls mumbled amongst each other about the "ice queen" and Yang just glared at her. Weiss scoffed at the group and walked off, "I swear. Nothing but a bunch of useless rabble…"

Even as she insulted the group though Weiss' eyebrows sank a bit. The white haired girl made her way along through the camp before spotting someone she recognized. Sitting nearby one of the tents while sharpening a small crimson blade with a vambrace wearing pair of arms was a girl with a bronze tiara and blood red hair tied in a ponytail. Her shoulders and clavicle were revealed by a bronze breastplate which came up only enough to cover her chest. Around her waist a crimson sash was tied which covered the short black shorts she wore beneath it, though not the bronze greaves hinged onto her thigh braces. Weiss immediately walked up to her, "Miss!"

The girl immediately looked up at Weiss with a wide eyed hint of surprise, "Uh… Yes?"

Weiss narrowed her blue eyes as they made contact with the green ones that gave off a frightful look back, "If I am not mistaken you are Pyrrha Nikos, correct?"

The redhead forced a chuckle and a smile and in her sing-song voice answered, "Yep, that's me!"

Weiss raised an eyebrow, "Interesting… I should introduce myself. I am Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. I've seen the broadcasts of your tournaments. No doubt you've seen the news about the company I am in as well as broadcasts of the concerts I have sung in."

Pyrrha kept force smiling but rubbed her head embarrassed, "Just the songs actually. Sorry Miss Schnee but I don't really pay much attention to the corporate news."

Weiss waved off any shame, "Call me Weiss, and there's no need for you to apologize. I'm far more important in the songs than the interviews anyway." Weiss went and sat next to the other princess, "I find it rather intriguing that the most famous girls our age from Atlas and from Mistral both decided to attend the huntsman academy at Vale."

Pyrrha grinned a bit as Weiss sat next to her, "Well, I suppose they just got lucky!"

Weiss smirked at this, "I'd say luck had nothing to do with it. After all Beacon is renowned for the skilled huntsmen it produces."

Pyrrha put up her hands and waved them at Weiss in nervous rebuttal, "Oh no! That's not really why I came here at all…"

As Pyrrha trailed off Weiss cocked an eyebrow, "Is that so? Then may I ask what it is that brought you here?"

Pyrrha looked down at the ground and fiddled with her ponytail nervously, "Well to tell you the truth I was just trying to escape my fame…"

Upon hearing this Weiss' hard expression became a bit softer "I see. In that case I apologize for inferring the incorrect."

Pyrrha looked up at the ice queen again, this time with a more genuine smile on her face and waved her hands across each other in concession, "Oh, you don't need to apologize at all! I just figured that if I came here fewer people would know me and they'd be more willing to be friends than just fans!"

Weiss smirked again, "Well unfortunately I already knew who you were, but, considering our equal status, you have no need to worry about me being your groveling fan girl."

"So…" Pyrrha started, "Does… that mean…"

Weiss extended her hand towards Pyrrha shakeably, "Of course." Pyrrha eagerly grabbed and shook Weiss' hand, but Weiss pointed up her other hand's index finger in interruption, "Provided! You answer _one_ more question…"

Pyrrha's green eyes widened again, "Oh! Yes! I'll definitely try at least!"

Weiss smiled slightly, "All I'd like to know is if your only goal was to leave Haven, then why go here and not Shade or Atlas?"

Pyrrha closed her eyes in an embarrassed look, "Well… I had thought about them but it's just… everyone told me Vacuo was too hot and Atlas was too cold."

Weiss paused a moment before breaking out in a bit of nobel laughter, "Well I certainly can't fault you there!"

Pyrrha stared at Weiss hopefully, "So…"

Rather than get the same question Weiss interrupted even sooner with a wave of her hand, "Yes, yes, you and I are friends now. Let's hope we get numbered to be together on the same team this exercise."

"Yes!" Pyrrha cried out as she clapped her hands together on one of Weiss', "That would be wonderful!"

And so the new buddy pairs of Jaune and Ren, Ruby and Blake, Yang and Nora, and Weiss and Pyrrha ate with, stayed silent with, kept surveillance on, or spoke with each other until the time when the next day's exercise demanded their rest.


	6. Volume 1 Chapter 6: Lost in the Woods

Volume 1 Chapter 6: Lost in the Woods

A loud whistling noise blared into Yang and Ruby's tent from outside. The pajama adorned sisters were startled awake. Ruby immediately went unbalanced and fell out the cot onto the ground with a scared yelp. Meanwhile Yang sat up fast, blinded by her tangled mane, and shouted out confused, "Aagh?! What?! Who?! What's Happening?!"

The shrill whistling ceased and in seeming answer to Miss Xiao Long's questions came the loud voice of Professor Goodwitch, "Wake up time Students! All of you dress and equip yourselves and assemble in the camp center now!"

Ruby popped back up from the ground with her night blindfold still on waving her arms stiffly in front of her to try to feel her way around, "Aagh! I'm up! I'm up!"

Yang finally opened her eyes and groaned, "What in God's… It ain't even light out yet!"

"Huh?" Ruby half yawned and pushed the blindfold out of her face with one hand while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with the other. Upon regaining her vision it became clear to her that Yang was correct and they had been awoken before dawn.

Yang pulled out her scroll and activated its flashlight function, "C'mon Rubes, let's get our stuff I guess." The two sluggishly grabbed their clothing and changed into it, holstering their weapons in place on it. Yang was able to get dressed a bit quicker for obvious reasons. She cocked her eyebrow at her sister and smiled a bit through her tired face, "Need help with that corset Rubes?"

"No. I. Urgh! Got it. You just go on. Argh! I'll meet up with you later!"

Yang shook her head with her arms crossed in humor, "Ah yes, the daily struggle to look like a fairytale maiden..." Yang turned and waved behind her before opening the tent flap, "Meet me around the firepit when you're done!"

"Will. Ragh! Do!" Ruby said happily through her grunts.

Ruby finally made it out of the tent right as the sun began to rise over the tree tops and headed over next to Yang. Professor Goodwitch stood at the side of the now fully burnt out fire pit which put the forever fall forest behind her. The female students stood in a semicircle around the opposite side staring at the prof through their eyes, which were still a bit sleepy. Glynda cleared her throat after the high volume wakeup call, "Good morning students."

The prof paused deliberately and the females caught on after a bit. In unison they responded, "Good morning Professor." In a tired voice.

Glynda nodded in approval, "Soon enough all of you will be addressed briefly by Headmaster Ozpin before the team building exercise, but before that I need to take role call to ensure you're all awake and prepared." The students answered back as Glynda went through the alphabetical list, a few of which stood out to Ruby and/or Yang, "Miss Blake!"

"Here." Came a monotone response. Ruby swiveled her head quickly over to where it came from but she couldn't see the responder.

A good chunk of names went by and were responded to, "Miss Nikos!"

"Here!" Came a strangely optimistic sing song voice.

Glynda moved on immediately to the next few as Ruby kept looking for Blake in the group, "Miss Rose!" A pause ensued, "MISS ROSE!"

Ruby snapped back to attention on the roll call and raised her arm immediately, stiffly waving it, "Oh! Here I am!"

The other girls giggled a bit. Glynda glared at them and they hushed, "All of you please pay more attention to the roll call."

"Yes Professor…" the crowd said uniformly.

Glynda breathed in and out in a self corrective manner, "Now, Miss Schnee!"

"Present." Came the properly toned response from unexpectedly nearby.

Ruby looked and saw Weiss standing up front just as she and Yang were. As Ruby saw Weiss the ice queen also looked her way with narrow eyes before immediately ignoring her again. Ruby growled a little and mumbled, "Of course the high S is right next to the low R…"

Yang merely rustled Ruby's hair at the sight of her grudge and smiled at it as Glynda kept going, "Miss Valkyrie!"

"Here…" Came the obviously complaining voice of the girl at the far end of the semicircle who was tapping her left foot slowly as she crossed her arms and pouted.

Glynda made it to the end of the list, "And finally Miss Xiao Long!"

Yang grinned like a fox and punched her left palm, "Last on the list but fast on the fist Prof!"

A burst of laughter came from the entire girls group and Goodwitch sighed roughly while touching her temple and rolling her eyes, "Very well, it seems you are all present so follow me so we can assemble in front of the headmaster."

The girls all did so, laughing, chatting, and getting under Glynda's skin through both along the way. Quickly they made their way to a rather small metal stand set up between the camps and in front of the walled off forest. At roughly the same time the male group came up to the stand on their right. Similarly to the fire pits a semicircular formation was created around the single story scaffolding upon which already stood Ozpin, his cane held centered in front of him.

"Are all the students present?" Ozpin asked looking down at the two professors who had stepped right in front of the elevated stand.

"Why of course! This band of boys was well disciplined, I didn't have a single one even try to catch a glimpse of the girls!" Port boasted.

"Yes." Goodwitch growled as she slightly glared back at the females out the left corner of her eyes.

Ozpin chuckled at the dual answers, "Excellent, well then!" Ozpin turned his gaze towards the students quickly who all froze in place. "Today's the beginning of your real training students, but before we start I have a few necessary details I must explain to you first, both for exercise method and safety purposes."

The students looked back and forth and shrugged a little at each others whispered questions but they all ended up looking back to their headmaster. Ozpin continued, "Around the wall are sixty-four gates which allow for entry and exit, and, interestingly enough, the maximum of sixty-four students we enroll each year." Ozpin smirked a bit at the reveal of the reason behind the school's limited enrollment, "You'll all come up to us and draw a numbered tag to determine the gate at which you'll start. Once you arrive at your starting positions and the gates are opened, we shall send your team number to your scroll. We can't give it to you now since you could find your teammates prematurely after all."

Ozpin smirked once more at the quiet growls put out at the elimination of the possible cheat, "Safety wise we shall be tracking your scrolls throughout the exercise. If you encounter danger you are unable to eliminate or escape on your own merely tap the emergency icon and our security huntsmen shall insert in and reinforce you, though of course you shall need to hold out on your own until they arrive." A few murmurs went up from the students in seeming concern but Ozpin ignored it, "Also, do try to limit your use of this to necessity. We have had years where the security huntsmen have been called in far too often."

Most of the students shrugged in seeming agreement at the urgency advice. Ozpin kept on with the briefing,"There shall be a time limit on this exercise of an hour before sunset. If you receive the notification of the end through your scroll then make your way out of the forest immediately regardless of whether you have joined with your teammates or not. You'll merely have the team revealed to you afterwards. Finally there shall be two rewards for your performance in this exercise. First of course is the leadership role as I mentioned in the orientation. The other is your team rank, the first team to gather with each other and get out of the forest together shall be established as the starting first team and each one after will be one rung down the same ladder." The reactions to this among the students varied a lot, clearly a representation of each one having an individual view of teamwork, "Of course starting the year at first rank won't necessarily mean you'll end it there, but it will start you off with an advantage towards that final ranking."

"Any questions?" Ozpin asked, casting his gaze across the student semicircle slowly while they remained silent, "No? Well in that case line up in any order you like and each of you draw a number from this box blindly." Ozpin said, pointing the tip of his cane at the box he referred to next to his feet on the waist high platform he stood on, "After that make your way to the starting gate with that same number. For some advice on how to do so the numbers elevate clockwise."

Ozpin pointed now to the number one gate directly behind him flanked on the left side by the number two gate and the right side by the number sixty-four gate, "Once our monitors see that you are all in position we shall send a signal to your scrolls to start the exercise. At that point the automatic gates will allow your entry and you can go at this however you please." Ozpin looked around at the students again in a short pause, "Well students since there's nothing else I wish you all great luck in your team's first outing. Let us hope you come to like the teams you have all been assigned."

Ozpin smirked at the teens and then took the steps down off his platform as the students lined up and began drawing their numbers.

* * *

Ruby ground to a halt in front of gate number thirty-one with sagging shoulders. She looked at her randomly drawn number again and sighed roughly, "Of course I end up having to go all the way around to the far side. Well whatever. Soon as I get in I'll head right to the middle. I bet everyone else is thinking the same way."

Ruby took out her scroll and waited. She wasn't impatient, after all it had taken her a good chunk of the time before starting to make it to the far side, but she was a little nervous, "I wonder who's gonna be on my team… Yang probably. She was pretty clear with Ozpin about wanting to watch out for me. I bet he put her with me to do just that."

Ruby gazed longingly at her scroll, "I hope Jaune joins us…" Ruby snapped her eyes back up, "And Blake! Because they are both _just_ my friends! Well, my one friend and the girl who helps me avoid other girls anyway." Ruby sighed, "Not like it matters though. Whoever matches my numbers is who it's gonna be."

Right then Ruby's scroll vibrated and chimed with the alert of a message. She opened the device and upon its screen saw her number, "Team fourteen huh? Well once I hit the middle I'll call out that number to everyone there." Ruby set herself up in a starting run position, "Can't use up aura too fast here. I'll just run in without enhancement and only use short bursts of the rose rush if I need it for obstacles." Gate thirty-one's doors began sliding open automatically from the center and Ruby's relaxed muscles were tensed with her will, "Alright! Time to team up!"

Ruby dashed in on her natural, non-aura-augmented speed. She was still fairly quick for a girl her leg length and was able to weave between trees and undergrowth nimbly. Until, that is, she tripped on a root she hadn't seen, "Ow!" Ruby got up and dusted herself off with an embarrassed look on her face, looking around to make sure nobody had seen her, "Uh… Maybe I should keep an eye on the ground better…"

Ruby continued her run while ensuring she didn't trip up again. Unfortunately for her, running and tripping are those things you get in exchange for navigating. As she made her journey her straight line to the center was unknowingly bent into a curved one, and, as she unknowingly curved, her path changed to intersect with another student's. With only a slight glimpse of it out of the corner of her eye Ruby crashed right into a white object that came out from behind the tree in front of her just as she crossed its path.

"Ow!" Came the cry from both unaura'd girls as they collided. Ruby looked up and met eyes with none other than the ice queen. Just as before they both jinxed each other, gasping and crying out, "YOU AGAIN!?"

Weiss immediately turned her sight back to the way she was originally headed with her chin slightly up. She stood to her feet, dusted herself off, and humphed, "Running into me again? You surely are a complete oaf."

Ruby pointed her thumb at herself, "Me an oaf?! You're the ice queen who heard me running up and still walked quietly right into my way!"

Weiss put the fingertips of her left hand at the top of her chest, "Me?! Quiet?! Have you never heard a pair of heels before you uncultured klutz?!"

Ruby growled angrily, "Yeah, well, I'd… I'd rather be deaf girl to heels than be a… a stuck up brat like you!"

"Why you!... You!..." Weiss stopped herself. The heiress inhaled and exhaled in a calming form with her eyes closed, then opened them narrowly and met Ruby's gaze once more, "I do not need to waste any more of my time with anyone so inferior to me as you."

Weiss turned completely away from Ruby and started to walk off. Ruby nearly did the same but just as she did a thought occurred to her, one which brought a grim expression to her face, "Wait."

Weiss halted and turned her head slightly around to look back at Ruby through the corner of her narrowed eyes, "What?"

"We… gotta check."

Weiss kept her eyes narrowed for a bit at the vague words, but after a moment her brain put Ruby's words and facial expression together and her eyes widened in understanding, "No. There is no way. I won't accept any team up with you!"

"We're already assigned to our teams Weiss. If we're on the same one then we can either help each other out and escape this place as quick as possible or we can come out unorganized and get put in last place." Weiss growled back at the red hood but though she was unable to rebut her she still didn't reach to get her numbered scroll. Ruby went on at trying to convince Weiss, "There's sixteen teams Weiss. It's only a one in sixteen chance you're on the same one as me. Just show me your number. If they don't match we can split up just like we want to."

Weiss snarled, "Fine. Let's get this over with so we can part ways." Weiss pulled the scroll from the pouch on her belt and Ruby did the same. The two walked up right in front of each other and deployed their screens in parallel. As Weiss and Ruby looked down at the numbers they both groaned at the same time, "I can't believe it… You. Of all students they put me on the same team. As you."

"Yeah, well, I ain't exactly happy about it either ice queen." Ruby said as she snappingly put her scroll away and turned to start walking. She turned her head back to address the heiress, "C'mon."

Weiss paused a bit and grimaced but hesitantly came alongside Ruby with her arms crossed. Together the two started their hike to the center again.

* * *

Jaune sighed roughly as he walked through the woods looking down at his scroll's map. "Nothing but a big green circle huh? Great. Just great. Wish I had the other students locations marked on this. If I did I could…" The ground beneath Jaune's feet gave way and Jaune slid off the small rise and into a tangle of brown, fuzzy vines. Jaune grunted as he struggled against the net of plants but all his strength managed to do was tighten their hold on him. Jaune ceased his struggle and sighed, "And now I'm stuck. Great. Just great…"

Jaune swiveled his head and screwed his face up in thought at how to get out. "If only I could reach Crocea Mors…" Jaune said as he looked longingly at the sword sheathed upon his belt. A cracking sound from the brush instinctively drew his vision. From within the bushes out walked a two legged, tailed, black creature. It was covered on it's back with slightly spined white plates that lead down the top of it's tail and up to the large, white plated head with huge, nigh disproportionate jaws. It was a grimm. Jaune shut his mouth and even held his breath, his aura entirely suppressed. With no way out yet he could only hope not to be noticed.

The forest however was not so kind as to back that tactic up. One of the branches which had supported the vines on their own was too weak to do so with the additional weight of Jaune. The branch cracked, and the grimm turned its head, its glowing red eyes gaining full vision of the trapped white knight. A screech went out the wide opened jaws of the grimm.

"Dammit!" Jaune cried as he raised his heavy aura. Hopefully the first bite would snap enough of the vines to let his right arm loose so he could draw his sword. Otherwise the grimm would sink its fangs into him as many times as it would take to destroy his aura and rip into his flesh, without him having any ability to fight back. The grimm lifted its tail and ran straight towards Jaune, making short sharp screeches along the way. The beast made its leaping attack and Jaune leaned as far to the left as he could to put his trapped right arm in the bite's path.

Jaune braced himself to take the hit but, out of nowhere and right before the grimm's strike succeeded, a gunshot rang out and a crimson colored blurred line struck through the monster's throat so hard it knocked the entire body to the side, pinning it by neck to the tree to the left of Jaune. As the beast struggled fecklessly while pinned Jaune heard rapid crunches of leaves coming from the right. He looked in that direction and saw a bronze clad girl run up to the crimson pole emerging out the side of the grimm's throat. She yanked the polearm out swiftly, causing the grimm to die and become a cloud of black ash bits which disintegrated, becoming smaller and smaller until they disappeared completely.

The girl retracted the shaft of her spear to the length of a mere grip to render it a sword and immediately turned her look at Jaune. Time seemed to pause as Jaune looked into the girls shining green eyes, at least until she quickly cried out, "Oh my gosh are you ok!?"

Jaune snapped out of his visual hypnosis at the redhead's beauty, "Oh! Uh… Yeah. Say… could you... maybe... cut me out of these vines?"

The girl's face took on a surprised look, "Oh! Yes! Of course!"

The girl's blade swiftly swung out and Jaune flinched and shut his eyes instinctively even as the sword sliced so precisely that not even a scratch was laid on him. Jaune dropped down free and began pulling the remaining tangled vines off himself, "Thanks for the save from that grimm." He saw the girl rub her chin a bit, "Something wrong?"

"That was a creep. They're supposed to live in the rocky parts of the mountains, not the forest."

"Meh," Jaune shrugged with closed eyes, "somebody probably caught one and sold it to the school or something."

"Maybe…"

"Well anyway thanks again for that save Miss…"

The girl's eyes went wide and she leaned in closer to Jaune, "You don't know my name?"

Jaune turned his head a bit to the side with his eyes still on the young woman as he put his eyebrows askew. He gently extended his hand to one of her shoulders to push her slightly back while he spoke, "_No…_ Should I?..."

The girl's face went red at the touch of Jaune's hand on her bare shoulder and she stiffly and quickly got her back up straight again away from him, "NO!" She cleared her throat and began speaking slightly more calmly, "No! It's fine! Um… well, I am Pyrrha Nikos! It is a pleasure to meet you Mister…"

"Arc," Jaune answered, extending his hand and grinning, "Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, and to the point."

Pyrrha paused wide eyed at the extended hand but delicately clasped it with her own and shook it, her eyes assuming a more relaxed gaze into his, "Mister Arc!"

"Just call me Jaune, ok? Oh!" Jaune snatched his hand away and began rummaging around the brush and severed vines for a bit as Pyrrha had a confused look on her face, "Got it!" Jaune lifted his dropped scroll from out of a bush and rushed back over to Pyrrha, "Let's check if we're on the same team!"

Pyrrha's eyes went wide again, "Oh! Yes! Of course!"

Pyrrha retrieved her own scroll and they opened them in parallel, "Well," Jaune said smiling, "looks like I was double lucky you came along!"

"My teammate… Wonderful! We're already halfway done getting our team put together!"

"Yep!" Jaune said, looking himself over and making sure he hadn't lost anything, "C'mon, let's go find the others."

Jaune grabbed Pyrrha by the wrist as Ruby had done to him and began pulling her on his route. This elicited a flushed red face and a slight squeal from the shield maiden behind him and she coughed in a nervous throat clearing method to hide this, "Um… Maybe since you fell before it would be better if I took the lead?"

Jaune halted and turned scratching his head in embarrassment, "Oh, yeah, you're probably right on that."

Jaune released the arm and Pyrrha's face returned to its pale shade as she stepped around him and led the hike.

* * *

Yang stomped her way through the woods looking for her sister. She groaned, "Why is it that every time I look for Ruby she's nowhere to be found?" So Yang thought out loud as she loudly broke through any obstacle in front of her, a sound which drew some attention. From her side a huge blur shifting between black and white rushed towards her. Yang smiled like a fox as she immediately punched the blur aside with the golden gauntlet of her right hand before it struck her. The blur was now made slow enough that Yang made it out for what it was in detail, a black viper grimm whose scales occasionally rippled across with white, "Well, well, well, look how lucky I am. I got something I can take out my frustration on now!"

Yang's fox grin widened to a full wolf grin and her right fist found her left palm. Two pairs of glowing red eyes met and a snake and human both coiled up and struck at each other at the same time. Or so the serpent thought. Yang's strike was in fact a redirect! The right hand which seemed to be punching flattened out to a palm and pushed down on the top of the biting beast's head, putting Yang into a one-hand-stand up top. Having created and exploited an opening in the top of the viper's head Yang punched down on it with her left hand, setting off her integrated shotgun at the same time as the strike.

The snake had a chunk blown out of its skull and its head slammed into the earth by the strike while Yang continued her flip onto the ground near the body of the monster. The serpent stirred regardless of its wounding and Yang didn't hesitate to exploit the opening of the extended neck. A full strength blast punch blew a chunk out of the throat and knocked it into the tree trunk behind it from Yang. Yang immediately went beyond a mere double tap, lunging toward her target and launching rapid blast punches at the same spot on the neck. She blew out chunk after chunk of shadow flesh as she screamed out her bloodlust laden war cry.

Eventually Yang's multiple unguarded punches "severed" the snakes head (uncleanly) which began its grimm dissolution from the tip of its snout. Yang symbolically dusted her hands as she smiled with closed eyes walking away from her kill. Or at least, her perceived kill. Out of seemingly nowhere a white blur hissed! Yang opened her eyes and gasped but this time it was too late to counter! The golden maned girl raised her arms in defense as her eyes went from lilac to crimson once more, but just as the white blur's head struck out a black blur fell atop it, slamming it into the ground.

The white serpent's nose began dissolving as the black blur stood up calmly and yanked it's blade from the center of the snake's skull. Yang's eyes went wide and lavender for a second but she shook herself back to confidence and waved at the black bedecked girl who jumped down from the dissipating grimm. Yang made a boxer's nasal fist wipe and inhale before leaning back with an arrogant arm cross and smile, "Thanks for the assist and all miss ninja but uh... I probably would've handled that on my own."

The long black haired girl looked unemotionally at Yang, "It seemed like you weren't aware of the white side. I figured you'd never encountered the taijitu before."

Yang rubbed the back of her head, "Well no, not the taiji… whatever _specifically…_ But that doesn't mean I couldn't have taken it on."

"You're right. _That_ doesn't," The kunoichi said as she slid her ninjato into her oddly broad sheath, "but falling into the ambush does. Better to keep yourself hidden from them than let them hide themselves from you."

"Sorry ninja chick," Yang said greaserly as she cracked her knuckles and neck, "but that just ain't my style." The shinobi girl rolled her eyes but Yang ignored it, "Anyway gimme your name and number so we can see if we're on the same team."

The black clad girl wordlessly tossed her scroll at Yang. The golden girl, though caught slightly off guard, managed to catch it anyway as the black clothed young woman spoke her name, "Blake."

"Any last name?" The ninja stayed silent. Yang rolled her eyes and deployed the shinobi's screen, "Well 'Blake' I'm Yang Xiao Long and it looks like you and me are on the same team. Lucky us." Blake grunted acknowledgement and Yang tossed the scroll back. The ninja girl caught the device without even looking and Yang turned to face the same way as her. "Any idea which way the center is?"

Blake shook her head. "I've been in the woods before but having to go around trees in my path limits my sense of direction."

"Same. I know I gotta keep an eye on the real world to keep from tripping up on obstacles, but every time I look back at my position on the map it shows I've gone off course." Yang crossed her arms and kicked at a rock near her feet. "Dammit! I got no idea how to find Ruby!"

Blake's eyes widened and she perked up and looked towards Yang, "You know Ruby?"

Yang looked back at Blake with her eyes narrowed, "Well duh, she's my little sis. Wait, you know her?"

Blake turned away again and shrugged, "Not really, but I was the one who helped her hide from you last night."

Yang put her hand to her face and dragged it down, "Of course. She gets angry at me then gets help from a ninja. Why should I be surprised?" Yang sighed, "Well it ain't like I can give up on finding her this time, not in here."

Blake cocked an eyebrow at Yang, "We might not be on the same team as her and one or more of her other teammates might have already found her. Plus, even if they haven't, can't she take care of herself?"

Yang walked right up to Blake's face. Yellow eyes met red ones as the golden girl pointed up her index finger between them, causing the ninja to flinch a bit back, "First of all, Ozpin's the one who assigned our teams and he's the one who put my sister in school alongside me. There's no way the headmaster wouldn't put us on the same team together while knowing how we're related." Up went the middle finger beside the index, "Second of all, that means there's only _one_ other person out there on her team and even _if_ she found them they might not be good enough to do anything for her." The ring finger shot up last, "And third of all, even if I'm wrong about all that stuff I'm still Ruby's big sister! It's always my job to look out for her, because even though she _can_ do it on her own I can do it better!" Yang turned away from Blake, started marching off, and waved behind herself, "Let's go ninja girl."

Blake snarled a little but willingly followed behind Yang.

* * *

Ren crept through the forest silently, his landings making no sound as he lit upon the large branches of the huge trees one by one. As he settled upon one he looked down at a huge clearing where a silver blur flashed among a group of bear like grimm. There was Nora, swinging away at the grimm with Magnhild and without a care in the world. Ren saw the very obvious state of overwhelm the pink skirted girl was in and sighed to himself. Rather than allowing the final Ursa behind Nora to take its unguarded swipe at her he drew his twin stormflower liu-ye-dao, reversed the sabers into an ice pick grip and fell silently upon the bear grimm, stabbing it through its back and allowing it to dissolve in front of him.

Ren stored his butterfly configured blades in a single sheath at his side. The sound of them clicking into place caused the oblivious Nora to turn around, seeing her Ren appear from behind the dissolving Ursa, "Honestly Nora," Ren sighed, "you really need to keep quieter so you don't draw this many foes."

Nora's smile widened ecstatically as she ignored every word Ren said, "REN!"

The jade dragon oofed as the heart chested lady tackled him to the ground in a tight hug.


	7. Volume 1 Chapter 7: Forest Fire

Ruby and Weiss stomped their way through the woods with Ruby in the lead. Weiss looked around at the surroundings suspiciously, "We have been walking for over an hour. Do you have any idea where you are leading us?"

Ruby's grumbled a bit at the question at first. She turned around towards Weiss and started walking backwards a bit to fully face her partner, her face going from a frown to a forced smile, "Of course I do!"

Weiss cocked a brow, "Really?"

"Yes!" Ruby stumbled a bit over a root in her backpedal and squeaked out a cry but quickly recovered and recomposed herself. She reversed her walk back to normal and pointed her finger up instructorishly as she cleared her throat from the squeal, "Ahem. Yes. I am leading us… to the center of the woods!"

Weiss' face went to a smirk, "And do you know which direction to go to _get_ to the center?"

"Uh…" Ruby said with her hand to the back of her head.

"Just as I suspected." Weiss replied condescendingly.

Ruby immediately looked back over her shoulder with a flat look, "Yeah, well I'd like to see you try and do any better ice queen."

Weiss humphed, "Very well!" Weiss sped her pace up to get in front of Ruby, "Follow after me then!"

Ruby swept her arms out in a sarcastic welcoming motion, "The hike's all yours princess." Ruby and Weiss continued their path in opposite order for another hour, over which time Weiss' expression became frustrated as Ruby's developed into an arm crossed smirk. A sarcastic tone came from the red hood, "Wow Weiss! Really great job you're doing navigating us! I'm sure we'll make it to the heart of the woods in no time!"

Weiss growled and looked back over her shoulder with an angry expression coupled with a pointing finger, "Now listen here you little, Aagh!"

Weiss immediately seemed to drop down as though she'd stepped off a cliff. "Weiss!" Ruby cried out in concern for her nemesis. The red hood rushed forward and saw Weiss up to her waist in a hole in the soil. Ruby extended her hand to the heiress, "Are you ok?!"

Weiss slapped the hand away and merely pushed herself up from within the hole, "I'm fine. This animal hole came out of nowhere is all."

"I've never seen a burrow this big on Patch, what kind of animal could have done this?…" Ruby said as she studied it curiously.

Weiss dusted herself off as she stood and answered flippantly, "Who cares where it came from? Come on, let's keep going."

Weiss flipped her ponytail back behind her shoulder and tilted her chin up as she started walking the same way. Before she got off though Ruby tugged her sleeve, "Uh… Weiss…"

"What?" Weiss asked annoyedly while looking back over her shoulder. Ruby pointed in the direction the heiress was going with the hand that wasn't maintaining a grip on her sleeve. Weiss turned her gaze that way and as she did her eyes widened. There before them were dozens of such holes in the ground between the trees. "What on Remnant?…"

Hair on Ruby's neck started prickling up, "Weiss… My aura sense…"

Weiss felt the same, "I think…maybe we should take our way around… quietly and without aura."

Just as the two began to creep slowly around some white object popped up from one of the holes. The object swiveled around until two glowing, crimson dots faced the two girls. A jagged black hole opened up upon it and a shrill shriek issued forth. The grimm popped completely out of the hole but just as it began to charge it was shocked still by a bullet from Ruby's rifle which blew off one of it's two legs and incinerated immediately after by a fire bolt from Weiss' rapier.

But it was too late. Dozens more beasts rose up from the earth, shrieking in harmony at the girls. Ruby worked the bolt action of her weapon and chambered a new round then glanced over to Weiss after headshotting one of them, "There's too many! We gotta go!"

"I'll cover us!" Weiss adjusted the amount of dust unleashed by Myrtenaster and released a full fireball at the grimm as they clambered their way out of the holes. Many grimm were burnt up but more of them emerged from the sides, having not been touched by the flames which now raged among the brush. Weiss looked wide eyed at the fire she started, "Oh… I did not mean to do that..."

As Weiss paused at her mishap Ruby yanked her by the upper arm and exertionally shouted at her, "We! Need! To leave! Now!"

Weiss deferred to the tug and followed along with Ruby while a bit stupefied.

* * *

Yang and Blake trekked through the woods in search of Ruby. Blake turned her head towards the golden maned girl, "We've been searching for your sister for a while."

Yang glanced back, "Want us to quit looking ninja girl?"

Blake narrowed her eyes, "No… I'm just wondering if there isn't a faster way to find her."

Yang shrugged, "Not sure. Just look out for the little red cloak and the girl in it running around all clumsy and tripping over stuff." Blake sighed but continued following along behind Yang. With no delay though the two heard rustling and clacking which indicated an approach coming from behind them. The two twisted around and armed themselves, taking up combat stances only to see a red klutz dragging a white one run towards them.

"YANG! BLAKE!" Ruby yelled at the top of her lungs as she ran towards the two while dragging Weiss along looking just as panicked.

"Ruby?! Ice Queen?!" Blake and Yang both shouted back at once.

Ruby kept charging directly at them. Stationary Yang grabbed the running red girl by her upper arms to stop her but her legs kept moving in midair. Ruby fretted in her sister's grasp, "WE GOTTA RUN!"

"Calm. down Rubes." Yang said with a crimson stare into her sister's eyes. Ruby's legs stopped moving and Yang set her down but didn't remove her grasp. Yang exhaled and blinked back to lavender, "Now. Please tell us what the hell is going on!"

Ruby inhaled extremely deeply, "Me-and-Weiss-were-going-to-the-middle-of-the-woods-but-Weiss-fell-in-a-hole-and-I-pulled-her-out-but-there-were-grimm-in-the-holes-and-we-shot-one-but-there-were-too-many-so-Weiss-caught-the-woods-on-fire-and-now-we-gotta-run!"

Ruby inhaled deeply again to finish her rant just as a burning tree collapsed behind her from Yang's perspective. Yang turned her head to stare at Weiss wide eyed and spoke in a flatly surprised manner, "Oh my god you actually caught the woods on fire…"

"It wasn't my fault!" Weiss snapped with her arms pointing down childishly.

"Um… guys…" Blake pointed behind red and white towards the burning treeline. Around the flames there came a big pack of two legged huge jawed grimm that shrieked collectively as they rushed towards the four girls.

Yang kept her wide eyes on the grimm as she started a bounce backwards, "You know what Rubes? Running ain't such a bad idea, let's go ahead and do that!" Yang turned and began her full pace as the rest of the girls followed her. After accelerating to their top speed Yang shouted out behind herself, "By the way Rubes, what's you guys' team number?"

Between her controlled running breaths Ruby shouted back, "Fourteen!"

"Ha!" Yang laughed as she shot her gaze at Blake and pointed mockingly at her, "Hear that ninja girl? I was right that Ozpin would throw us on the same team!"

"Would. you. please. just. shut up and keep running?!" Blake shouted back at the golden maned girl who went back to being silent with a smug smirk on her face.

* * *

Jaune and Pyrrha marched through the forest. Pyrrha held her head high with a smile on her face, "We are making some excellent progress!"

Jaune sighed, "Yeah, in a circle. Pyrrha these trees are the same ones we passed a while ago."

Pyrrha's voice wavered away from her singsong one, "Are you… sure?" Jaune's face went flat and he stepped to the side revealing the words "Jaune was here" scratched on to the tree trunk behind him. Pyrrha's smile became a sad look, "Oh…"

Jaune sighed again, "It's not your fault Pyrrha. I couldn't exactly find my way around either after all."

"It _is_ my fault Jaune! If we don't know our directions then even if we run into our teammates we'll take forever to find our way out and our rank will suffer from it." Pyrrha crossed her arms and leaned her back against a tree before sliding down on it and sighing as she shook her head, "I'm a terrible leader Jaune…"

Jaune squatted down next to the armored goddess while nodding and staring the same direction as she was, "Yep. You're pretty bad." Pyrrha looked at Jaune with wavering wide eyes. Jaune grinned back and patted her on her bare shoulder, eliciting another blush, "But it ain't like I'm any better. Besides, it's not like I care about some rank right now, so long as you're with me we'll both be safe from grimm. _That's_ all I care about while we're in these woods."

Pyrrha's redness deepened and she removed her gaze immediately from Jaune and stood up swiftly clearing her throat, "You know what Jaune? You are absolutely right! There's no reason to get ourselves down now! We just need to keep marching!"

"Around the same circle." Jaune said sarcastically as he stood shaking his head and crossing his arms.

Suddenly a crack sounded from the brush and the partners immediately drew their swords. Something stumbled forward out of the thicket and two tips of blades pointed towards it's throat. A short red haired girl smiled and snapped her eyes back and forth between the sword wielders threatening her neck, eventually locking onto Jaune, "Oh! It's Ren's friend from the boys camp!" The two sword wielders sighed and sheathed their blades and the other redhead immediately fronted up on Pyrrha who gasped in surprise. The heart chest put her hand to her chin to rub it curiously, "Oooh… And a fellow redheaded girl… Could it be the two of you are 'together' together? Hmmm?"

Pyrrha's eyes went super wide and her face went super red as she began stuttering out her response completely incoherently. Jaune obliviously walked up to her side and put his arm around her back and his hand on her shoulder which reddened her even further, "Nah Nora, she's just my new friend and teammate, saved my life when I met her in fact!" Jaune turned his face to Pyrrha, "Pyrrha this is my friend Ren's friend Nora. Nora, Pyrrha."

Nora crossed her arms, extending the hand of the one underneath, while leaning back with narrowed eyes and serious mouth in a deliberately cool pose. She gave the quick up nod, "Sup fellow war lady."

Pyrrha regained control of herself and extended her own hand with a forced smile, "Um… Hello... Nice to meet you."

Nora grabbed the extended hand with both of hers and shook it vigorously, causing Pyrrha's whole body to be shaken. Just as she did another crack sounded from behind her and Ren immediately emerged from the same thicket, "Nora… I keep telling you not to rush through these brushes on your own…"

Nora popped over to Ren and grabbed him by the upper arm while pointing to the other pair, "Look who I found Ren! It's the blonde guy from the boy camp and his new girlfriend!"

Ren looked at the pair calmly as Nora's statement elicited another blush from Pyrrha, "Oh, it's Jaune and…"

Jaune stepped forward and extended his hand towards Ren who grasped it this time instead of simply bowing again. Jaune thumbed back at Pyrrha, "Her name's Pyrrha and she's one of my teammates. It's good to see you again Ren."

"Good to see you too Jaune, and good to meet you Pyrrha, I'm Lie Ren."

Pyrrha waved and grinned awkwardly and went singsong, "Hello!"

Ren put his eyes back Jaune after the greeting, "So. I suppose we should show our team numbers now?"

Ren immediately slipped his scroll out from within his sleeve and put it up to Jaune's face showing him its number. Jaune broke out a grin and turned his head back over his shoulder towards Pyrrha, "Looks like we've got our whole team together now Pyrrha! Time to get out these woods!"

"Right on!" Nora exclaimed as she popped up between Ren and Jaune embracing both by the necks in a locked position. The two much taller boys bent down at the back with their heads at the perfect level to observe Nora's heart shaped cleavage. She grinned and looked back and forth between the boys, "So, which way are we heading?"

Jaune perked up his finger, "That… I'm not so sure about… Ren you got any ideas?"

Ren shrugged, "Sorry but I've been too busy keeping track of Nora to navigate."

"But you _can_ navigate right?" Jaune asked, shooting an inquisitive gaze and a pointing finger at the man held in the same Nora neck vice as him.

Ren shrugged once more, "Sure, provided we get to a place where I can get my bearing again."

Jaune stood up straight from his bent position in Nora's hold, causing her to release him. The white knight put his hands on his hips and addressed the team with new confidence, "Alright! Ren, you take point. Nora, you take the rear. Don't. Stray." Nora saluted Jaune with a smile on her face. Jaune accepted the obedience with a nod and looked back over to Pyrrha, "Pyrrha, you take the right while I take the left. Time for this team to head out!"

Right at this point down the path behind Jaune came the sound of a huge crash. Jaune turned quickly to look down the tree flanked hall and saw four girls, Red, White, Black, and Yellow, sprint around a corner. The colors were followed at first by a log crashing behind them emitting the same sound, then by a horde of the screeching grimm that had attacked Jaune before. The red girl cried out, "JAUNE!"

"Ruby?!" Jaune cried back as the other group kept running towards theirs.

"C'MON-WE-GOTTA-GO!" Ruby shouted as she grabbed Jaune's arm and yanked him into her run, the rest of his team falling in after him.

"Aagh! Ruby! What the hell's going on?! How are there this many creeps chasing you?!" Jaune yelled while pivoting his head around everywhere.

"I dunno I dunno! They just popped out of a bunch of holes at us and Weiss ended up setting the woods on fire!"

Jaune stared back at Weiss wide eyed, "You set the woods on fire?!"

"It wasn't my fault!" The heiress shot back.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha cried out to get his attention as she ran alongside him, "We can't keep running from the horde forever! What should we do?"

Jaune shrugged stumped then looked over towards Ruby to get some ideas. Ruby growled in frustration, "I don't know ok! If there was some way we could trap them then maybe, but I can't find my way around here!"

"Neither can I!" Jaune responded before his brow furrowed in thought then brightened after a mere second, "But I know who can! Ren!" The jade dragon turned his attention towards the white knight when Jaune looked his way. "Do you know anywhere in this forest where we could box the horde in?"

Ren nodded, "There's a cliffside that curves inward at a certain spot."

"Can you get us there?"

"Now that we're on this path?" Ren scoped the surroundings out and looked back to Jaune with a calm smile, "I'd say that is an absolute yes."

Jaune nodded curtly, "You take point then." Ren nodded and did so, aura burst leaping ahead of the rest. "Now, anyone got an idea how to trap them after we lure them in?"

The running red hood perked up at this question, "I do!" Everyone shot their eyes to her as she shot her eyes to Weiss, "Ice Queen!"

Weiss got an annoyed look on her face, "What?!"

"I need you to set the woods on fire again!"

"What?!" Issued a concerned cry from the rest of the teams besides Ruby and Yang.

Yang shrugged, "Well she is good at it." Weiss shot a glare at the golden mane.

"Just hear me out guys!" Ruby cried to get their attention. Everyone looked back at her and she continued, "If we have Weiss split off she can make a wall of flame to close off the curved in cliffside while the grimm focus on the main group. The rest of us can just aura burst leap over it to get out, after that all we need to do is shoot rounds into it to kill all the grimm!"

The teams looked between each other concerned but seeing no other way. Weiss groaned and shook her head, "Even if that is all we have I can't do it. I'd need to close the box canyon off from one side and the grimm would be able to escape through the other before the fire reached it."

"I got you covered ice queen!" Yang called out, producing a belt of red colored shotgun shells with black flame emblems upon their sides from one of belt pouches, "Been saving these for a rainy day! Or, well, a _non_ rainy day I guess…"

Weiss's eyes went wide, "Are those?..."

"SDC explosive incendiary slugs! The best non custom ones on the market!" Yang shot her wolfish grin at Weiss, "Long range, high accuracy, large blast radius. The perfect thing to burn down whatever you pump em into, and lucky for you I can switch Ember Celica to full auto!"

Ruby looked at Weiss hard again, "Will that work?"

Weiss looked hard back, "Maybe… If we coordinate our timing right…"

"Just start your blasting when you hear me start my shooting Ice Queen!" Yang yelled.

Ren looked back over his shoulder at the teams and shouted, "We're coming up on the position!"

The teams looked through the canopy and saw the gray stone of the cliffside. Ruby looked between Weiss and Yang, "Alright, time to split off. Weiss you take the right side, Yang you go to the left. Hide in some tree tops and wait til the grimm run all the way past you to start blasting!"

Both girls nodded and aura burst leapt at high speed to get to their positions ahead of the main group. The main group meanwhile ran straight into the box canyon. Jaune looked around the teams, "Hey guys!" The attention turned to him, "Once we get to the rearmost wall we'll split in two and retreat along the sides, that way we'll give the fire starters more time and have the grimm follow us to the barrier we can get through but they can't!" Everyone nodded at the plan. "Alright then! Pyrrha, you, me, and Ruby will go left, Ren, you take Nora and… uh… ninja girl whose name I don't know right!"

"It's Blake." The black clad girl said flatly.

"Blake. Right. Got it." Jaune said as he smiled and shot double finger guns back at the girl who narrowed her eyes at him.

The girls hidden in the treetops watched quietly and with suppressed aura as the rest of the teams dove into the trap area. They didn't have to wait too long before, behind their allies, the grimm horde rushed in. Yang waited with baited breath as the massive horde stampeded through. Eventually she noticed the beasts were trickling down. Yang punched her left palm, speaking softly to her gauntlets as she wolf grinned, "Alright my little ladies, it's time to shine!"

Yang flipped the feed covers up on her gauntlets allowing the previous belts to fall to the forest floor uncaringly, then slapped the incendiary rounds in and closed the plates. Yang cocked the rounds into the open bolt and flipped the selector switch to full auto on each arm. In mere seconds the golden lioness had set up her guns for their firing line. Yang watched as the trickle of grimm fully disappeared, thrust her arms forward and parallel to each other, and, taking aim at the nearest brush to the tree she was standing on, unleashed a hail of fully automatic fire. Yang didn't bother controlling her aim, rather she blanketed the whole area with a spread of exploding slugs, using the natural barrel climb from the recoil to extend her wall of flames towards the center as she laughed hysterically at her work.

Weiss on the other side heard the beginning of the automatic orchestra and immediately leapt down from her branch to the deck to get her proper angle. Weiss took a fencer's side stance and extended her rapier directly ahead of her, pointing it in the line of her barrier. In front of the rapier appeared a white glowing circle with the Schnee snowflake in its center branching out. The ice queen narrowed her eyes and shouted, "Now! MYRTENASTER!"

A narrow jet of flame shot forward along Myrtenaster's blade until it reached the Schnee glyph ahead of it. The glyph's repulsive force increased the speed of the fire jet by magnitudes and in passing through the air faster it gained greater oxygenation and size. The diameter of the jet grew to Weiss' own height and it's range to close the gap between her side of the gate and Yang's, though the heiress felt her aura being drained heavily by the amount of it she poured into such large repulsion.

The teams reached the wall and split into the two Jaune had said. As they split so did the grimm, the horde coming closer by cutting the curve a bit. The teams upped their speed as much as they could to outpace their pursuers, shooting behind themselves at the ones which came up too close. Eventually the portion containing Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ruby came upon the brightly glowing orange barricade that Yang had set up. As they began running up to it Ruby shouted out, "Get ready to jump!"

Jaune shouted back, "Sorry but that's where I split up from you guys!" Ruby and Pyrrha both looked confused at the white knight and he smiled a bit embarrassed, "I don't know the jump! The only aura technique I know is the skin shield! I just gotta charge through!"

"Jaune you can't!" Pyrrha shouted.

"Pyrrha's right Jaune! That wall is too thick! You'll deplete the shield before you get through! It'll burn you alive!" Ruby agreed.

"It's not like I can learn the leap right now and neither of you can lift me out of here when you jump dammit! My shield's my only chance!" The two looked with deep concern at the knight but they couldn't argue against it. His armor, size, and muscle made him weigh far too much for a carry out. Jaune shot a grin back at both maidens as he thumb pointed at himself, "Relax you two! I'm an Arc! We've got the most aura around! It might still be a gamble but I've got the best chance there is! Now both of you get going!"

The two girls nodded grimly as Jaune psyched himself up to take the plunge into the flames. Ruby immediately burst into her leap up to the canyon wall to use it as a platform to jump again. Pyrrha nearly did the same but hesitated. The armored goddess ran up to Jaune's side and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. His eyes swiveled to her as her cheeks went red while her green eyes stayed like steel, "For luck!"

Pyrrha immediately leapt away as Jaune's face went red and his mouth hung ajar. He watched Pyrrha's multi platform jumping for a second before shaking himself back to normal and returning the disciplined expression to his face. Under his breath he muttered, "Get a hold of yourself Arc…"

The grimm were now on Arc's tail alone. With no ranged weapon to dispose of the ones getting too close they began snapping their jaws close to his heels. He ran even faster purely physically, even if he could use his aura to boost his speed (which he couldn't) he'd still need to save all of it for his shield as he stormed through the firewall. Jaune approached the point where he could see the actual flames of the barrier rather than just their glow. Sweat made its way across his brow and smoke tickled his lungs, causing him to cough, but he powered through it.

The white knight waited until a split second before he touched the flames to activate his aura. Jaune plunged blindly forward, his eyes squinting against the brightness. Unlike the grimm who plunged in after him as they were unable to stop themselves due to their momentum, Jaune was not instantly burnt to a shriek eliciting crisp. Rather the white knight lived, but despite his aura's huge capacity he could instantly feel the heat sinking into him. He pressed forward, not hesitating to keep up the charge as turning back now or stopping for even a split second would only lead to his death. Jaune's aura waned as the fire went close to its threshold, he had only a short time left before it shattered.

And shatter it did! But only just as the brave paladin surged forward out of the flames, into the arms of his armored goddess, "Jaune! You made it! You're alive!" Pyrrha held him at arm's length and looked him over then got a shocked look, "And you're on fire!"

Jaune immediately realized the heat on his backside and began twisting around panicked, "Aagh! Put it out! Put it out!"

Ruby ran up to the white knight, "I'll save you Jaune!"

Ruby pushed the boy flat to the earth and stomped his rear with her boots until the flames died out. Pyrrha covered her mouth with one hand to hide her gasp and stared in wide eyed concern at the fire stomp. Jaune groaned in pain after Ruby finished and remained on the ground flat, "Thank you… Ruby…"

Yang strutted up and picked the boy off the ground until he stood up on his own and began dusting himself off, "I gotta say Jauney boy, that was one helluva stunt you pulled off back there!" Yang gave Jaune's back a congratulatory smack between the shoulder blades so hard he fell down again, "Oh. Sorry bout that."

As Yang grinned and rubbed her head embarrassed Jaune picked himself up exertionally, "No problem. After all, you know me... Tough as nails!" Jaune let out a forced chuckle before looking down along the flaming wall and seeing the rest of the team show up looking fine, "Glad to see you guys all made it. Did any of you get hurt?"

Weiss shrugged with a pompous look, "My aura was depleted by the semblance I used to enhance the flame jet, but I still have a drop or two left. As for the rest of them…" Weiss said, flippantly gesturing towards the others that came through her side, "They're totally fine."

Jaune sighed, "Great, cause I'm a hundred percent out of aura now."

Ren gave a concerned look, "How?"

Yang slapped Jaune's back again, but more gently this time so he wouldn't fall down again, "Old Jauney Boy here had enough aura to shield himself through the entire firewall! Dude's got a bigger limit than me even!"

The ones from Weiss' side including even Weiss herself looked in a bit of awe at the paladin. Ruby looked around the teams and decided to chime in to refocus them again, "Ahem, well, if everyone's ok then before this fire dies down let's go get to a vantage point up there on the walls where we can fire down on the grimm."

Yang punched her left palm, "Hell yeah! Time to show those fish in a barrel who's boss!"

The teams linked up and began to take the path they saw that headed up the side of the cliffs but heard a roar from behind them and turned. Peeking above the top of the flames was a shifting mass of black and white. The teams instinctively began stepping backwards as they watched the mass raise its head distinctively above the fire. In its gigantic jaws it held the bodies of miniature versions of itself, working its jaws up and down to allow them to slide one by one down its wide throat. When finished doing so it let out a roar once again.

Pyrrha shook, "The horde absorbed into itself! They turned into a devil creep!" Pyrrha turned towards Jaune with a steel gaze, "We have to run again."

Jaune looked back at the huge beast that was now tall enough to peer over the flame wall at them, "Yeah, you know what? I think you may be right. Guys! Let's get out of here!"

The teams immediately followed Jaune's lead, dashing away from the flames but a crashing sound came from behind them. With but a second's delay a mass of black and white crashed right ahead of them on the path they had planned to run down. The devil creep turned around, bringing them into its sight once more. With the teams frozen in fear in its crimson glare the monster issued a roar and dug its two clawed feet into the ground, beginning its charge towards its prey.


	8. Volume 1 Chapter 8: The Devil Creep

Jaune rapidly and vigorously tapped the security alert icon on his scroll as both his and Ruby's teams ran away from the gigantic monster chasing them. Ruby smacked his hands downwards as she ran alongside him, "It's no use Jaune! They're not gonna get here in time!"

Jaune looked to her panicked, "We got no other choice Ruby! We can't stop that thing! We're all low on ammo and dust from shooting at the creeps, Weiss has barely any aura left, and I got none! If that thing catches us we're done for!"

"I know that Jaune! I know, I just… We just need to come up with a way to keep it from being able to hit us so we can kill it…"

"Split up maybe? Distract it with one while the rest hit it from all sides?" Blake offered.

Yang narrowed her crimson eyes at the kunoichi, "You mean let one of us die while the other seven live?"

Pyrrha looked at Jaune for a second then spoke up to the rest, "I'm the most skilled fighter. I can distract it while the rest of you…"

Ruby clenched Pyrrha by the shoulder tight with a steel look in her silver eyes and immediately interjected, "No! I won't let anybody go against this thing alone! We are all in a team together! Now somebody think of a plan!"

The rest were silent as they kept running, their faces downtrodden as Ruby looked around among them. Just when it seemed all hope was lost a throat clearing noise was heard. Ruby immediately snapped her head to look in the direction it came from in their formation and saw none other than Weiss. The heiress looked hard at Ruby before speaking, "We can maybe use my semblance."

"The Schnee Glyphs?…" Blake said ponderously.

"Yes." Weiss replied, "The white mode of them can repel things, but there's also a black mode that can attract them, fixing them to a single point in space."

"But that means your glyphs are fixed in space too. I know you only have enough aura left for one." countered Ren, "With the devil creep moving around like this you could easily miss. If that happens, we're all dead."

"Great." Yang said exasperatedly while throwing up her hands, "So we gotta immobilize it before we can immobilize it. So much for ice queen's 'master plan'…"

Weiss narrowed her eyes at Yang, "I've spent much of my life training with these glyphs _barbarian girl_. I don't need the target immobilized, just slowed down so I can cast a glyph where I predict it will be."

"What's gonna slow down a giant grimm that can jump over a huge fire?!" Nora cried out.

Yang shrugged, "Ice queen's… _ice_ maybe? I mean Rubes did say she had a bunch of different dust with her."

Weiss shook her head, "Won't work. Even if I could use more than one glyph right now the repulsion can't enhance ice dust the way it can fire dust. My ice bolts would only freeze small parts of something that big and if it is strong enough to jump the firewall then it would be strong enough to break through those easily."

Jaune looked around trying to think of an answer in the environment. All he saw were huge trees that were occasionally spanned by nets of vines, the same vines he had gotten tangled in. Jaune's face lit up, "The vines!" Everyone looked at him inquisitively and he explained, "If we lure it into a big enough net of vines it'll force it to struggle free. While it's doing that it'll be slowed down!"

"And if the grimm _sees_ the vines?" Weiss asked incredulously, "What's to stop it from running around them?"

"It won't see them," Ren shot back, "_my_ semblance will see to that."

Everyone else stayed silent waiting for Ren to continue but he didn't bother explaining any more. Ruby looked at Jaune who shrugged before addressing Ren, "If you say so. Know any place with a vine net you can trick the creep into Mister Navigator?" Ren paused to think then answered merely by nodding back at the white knight. Jaune nodded back himself then turned back to the rest of the group, "Alright guys, we've only got one shot at this! Let's make it count!"

The teams nodded once with steel eyes at the paladin's words and they ran silently after Ren as the devil creep raged and roared right behind them. The teams ran athletically, weaving between brushes, vaulting over huge roots, ducking under low hanging branches. Meanwhile the devil creep smashed violently through everything, disregarding its presence as though it was all mere gnats it could easily sway away. Soon enough the teams made it to Ren's determined location.

Two gigantic fall trees stood like pillars, their trunks webbed by the largest version of the brown vines Jaune had seen yet. Ren cast his look backwards, "All of you head on, I'll blind the grimm and catch up."

Everyone rushed forward save Jaune who came up to Ren and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You sure you can do this man?"

Ren put hand to chin in thought for a moment. "I don't have a high aura capacity like you, in fact mine is fairly low. It will likely consume most if not all of it." Ren stated his words flatly at first but then the normally calm faced jade dragon cocked a smile, throwing Jaune off guard, "But if you're willing to spend yours to charge through fire then I'm perfectly willing to spend mine to get the devil to charge through Shenlong's Mist."

Jaune hesitated a bit but steeled his eyes, nodded trustfully, and gave a quick pat to the same shoulder he had held before rushing ahead of Ren. Ren eyed both sides of the path he was on until he spotted the perfect spot to execute his part of the plan. Two trees as tall and spaced apart as the vine webbed ones but without any vines to hinder him. Ren swerved to the left and placed his feet on the side of the left tree's trunk, coiling like a spring. A split second before his aura enhanced leap a thick plume of fog burst from his body. He sprang forth, trailing the cloud behind him as he ricocheted himself back and forth between the trees, creating a net of mist to hide the net of vines. With his last burst of aura he sprang over top of the vines themselves, landing in a perfectly executed fall breaking forward roll wherein his shield shattered.

Upon seeing this the teams that had stood where Ren landed to wait for him to arrive after blinding the grimm had surprised looks on their faces at the display of his semblance. Ren stood, dusted himself off, and addressed the crowd in an oddly calm manner, "I'd advise you all to get ready."

The slack jawed Jaune got hold of himself, "You heard the man! Everybody at the ready!"

Both teams took up combat stances to ready themselves for their attack on the devil creep. Like clockwork the roaring beast emerged from the mist and plowed into the vines. The net held, but creaks and snaps were heard as the trees and vines began giving way under the sheer strength of the grimm. Ruby shouted out, "Now Weiss!"

The heiress didn't miss a beat. With a dance of her rapier she got within close distance of the struggling monster and pointed the majestic Myrtenaster at it's throat, collaring it with a black glyph. Weiss looked back over her shoulders and shouted excitedly, "I can't hold this for long!"

Ruby now took her beat, "Everyone go for the legs if you can break or cut them! The eyes if you can't!"

"I'll distract it so it doesn't strike back!" Ren drew his twin liu ye dao from the single sheath they occupied and their grips folded down to turn their saber configuration into a pistol one. Ren aimed for the plated head of the monster and shot his jade blades away from their pistol hilts. When they drove themselves into the grimm's helm black cables attached to the bottom of their tangs tightened immediately and reeled Ren towards them, perching him upon the grimm's head. The jade dragon withdrew one of the blades forcefully while keeping the other attached to serve as a handhold. As the monster roared in pain Ren aimed his free machine pistol at the head and unleashed a hail of fire he didn't bother trying to control at such close range.

Pyrrha capitalized on this distraction, extending her sword into its spear form and holding it in a throwing stance with her right hand as her left hand held a thumbs up to use as a makeshift sight. With a full body lunge Pyrrha let fly her javelin. Midway into its flight the butt of the shaft issued forth an explosive jet sounding like a gunshot and doubling its speed towards its target. The crimson blur penetrated a right side crimson eye, causing its lids to close around it. With only her shield left Pyrrha looked to Jaune and scratched the back of her head with an awkward smile on her face, "Uh… Well... that's all I've got, sorry!"

Blake ran between the two before Jaune could respond as she drew her ninjato. She flipped the edge backwards in her hand and it folded forward, rendering it into a kama. The ninja girl threw it into the tree branches while keeping it attached to her wrist via a long black ribbon. Using her running momentum she kicked off into an acrobatic swing which brought her up around the monster's left side. In mid swing she grabbed her broad sheath by its handle and flipped it in her hand. Upon doing so the now noticeable cleaver like blade fanned out into four more narrow blades arranged in a cross. Blake threw the huge shuriken as she swung and in its mid flight jets of flame issued forth from the unedged side of each blade, speeding it's spin to a ridiculous rate as it curved through the air straight into the devil creep's left eye. Blake ended her swing perched upon a tree branch and turned back to the ground team, "It's completely blind! Now hit the legs!"

Yang and Nora ran forward at the same time on a parallel path towards the right leg. Yang got on the inside, swerved around the back and used a huge hook fueled by her momentum to punch the beast's knee forward, causing it to buckle in its stand. Nora immediately followed up with a swing of her great hammer upon the side of the knee. A huge crack noise echoed through the forest and the devil's stance crumbled even more.

Ruby didn't wait any longer. Her weapon entered its scythe mode and the red hood activated her semblance, propelling herself with a trail of rose petals towards the left leg of the monster which she cut halfway through, but she expended her entire aura on the rose rush as she did. Jaune ran in right after the red hood's flight forward. He thrust the blade of his arming sword into his shield which reverted to the form of a white sheath and detached itself from his left arm. This perplexed the observing Pyrrha for a moment, but the white knight, rather than placing his sheath back on his belt, swung it out wide to his right. In so doing the white sheath extended to twice its original length and a golden edge appeared upon it. Two small segments of the sheath near the guard folded out into a V shape, creating extended quillons and a ricasso upon the white blade. The grip extended to double its original length as well and Jaune brought his left hand to grip the new section of it. The white paladin charged in with a war cry and brought Crocea Mors' claymore mode through a powerful swing that finished the other half of Ruby's slice through the left leg.

The devil grimm collapsed completely, ripping the vines away from the spots where they were anchored upon the trees and shattering the black glyph that had collared it, putting Weiss to her knees. Ren yanked free his other blade and jumped off the crown of the creep rather than get crushed by it. The beast roared, blind and lame, as it rolled and flailed, unable to rise again. Jaune panted as he looked over to Ruby who did the same. "It's still there!" Jaune got out between breaths, "All that and we still didn't kill it!"

"I…" Ruby wheezed, "I've got nothing left… Not even to run away..." The red hooded girl looked around at the other exhausted seeming members of the teams, "I don't think any of us do…"

"If we don't kill it it's gonna regenerate… We won't be able to escape from it if it does..." Jaune turned back towards the flailing devil with a hopeless look on his face as he watched the severed leg of the beast he had helped cut slowly ashing back.

Pyrrha listened to this concernedly. The warrior princess hesitated for a moment but then steeled herself. She extended her hand towards the spear she had lodged in the beast's right eye. But just then, as Jaune, Ruby, and all the rest stood there helplessly, a cascade of unrelenting tracers fell rapidly into the devil creep from above, eliciting an incredibly pained roar. Pyrrha immediately snapped her hand back to her side, withholding whatever action she'd been about to take.

At a halt in the machine gunnery a green and bronze blur fell from the sky and impacted the grimm like a falling boulder. The grimm gave one final jerking spasm before beginning to dissolve into dust. Stepping casually off the corpse as it lowered to ground level through its dissolution was a seven foot tall bronze armored samurai with an olive haori who placed his bronze nodachi on his back behind his buzz cut head. The samurai put both hands to his mouth to cry out, "FEAR NOT FELLOW STUDENTS! THE AIR CAVALRY HAS ARRIVED!"

A vertical landing was performed right next to the samurai by an aircraft which caused gusts of wind to blow against the hair of every teammate in the area. The vtol machine turned its open side hatch towards Jaune and Ruby. A coffee colored fashionista standing in the opening and holding a minigun in her right hand tilted her black sunglasses down at the samurai with her left. "Ugh. Seriously Yatsu? Not even a minute into the evac and you're already acting like a comic book hero."

The Samurai chuckled in false embarrassment as he exaggeratedly bowed towards the machine gunner, "My deep apologies Coco-Taichou."

"Whatever." Coco said in flippant forgiveness. The runway model turned back towards Ruby and Jaune, "Anyway, I heard one of you new recruits hailed a taxi. All of you go ahead and board up!"

Both teams, weary and beaten as they were, climbed their way into the transport and watched as the fall colored forest below them grew smaller and smaller.

* * *

On the morning of the next day each student in their formed up team filed into the auditorium once more. Jaune and Ruby walked beside one another as their teams followed behind them into the theater. The groups all saw Ozpin already atop the podium, waiting for them rather than making them wait for him as he had before. The headmaster waited patiently until the entire student body made its way in. Ozpin tapped the mic, "Testing… Testing… Ah. Excellent. Ahem. Welcome back students! I hope you've all had an excellent experience finding your teammates and escaping the woods!"

The whole auditorium stayed silent. Jaune and Ruby looked around at the other students who seemed just as exhausted as they had gotten. Ozpin ended his unanswered pause, "Well, in any case, I'm quite glad you all managed to find another three to accompany you, since you were never actually assigned to those teams from the start." The students looked at their teammates confusedly. Ozpin explained, "Oh don't get me wrong, the teammates you have are indeed your assigned ones now, however we didn't actually assign separate numbers to any of you before the exercise began. Your team was therefore assembled at random out of the first three people you met. But no need to take my word for it, go ahead and check the other team's numbers."

Ruby and Jaune took out their scrolls and saw the number fourteen on each. Mutterings and grumblings spread throughout the auditorium at this realization. "If you're interested as to why we chose fourteen specifically go ahead and flip the number upside down." Jaune and many others did so with their scrolls and realized the joke immediately. The number fourteen turned into the word "hi." A massive groan issued forth from the student body. Ozpin smiled and chuckled as the groan went up, "Now now, you may not like the random assignment method now, but by the time the year is out you will no doubt have grown close to your teammates. This is why the random assignment tradition still exists, because rather than reveal it our students keep it secret to ensure that each year creates their bonds the same way."

"Pfft." Yang drew the rest of the team's attention to her low volume blow off, "Yeah right. Only reason I'm keeping it hush is cause if I gotta do it then Imma make damn sure next year's recruits gotta do it too."

Ozpin continued, "Anyway, there are still a few assignments we do make. Firstly your team ranks based off your exit time from the forest and secondly your team leaders, hand chosen by the faculty based on sound and footage taken of your actions. We'll work down the list of ranks and call out the leaders at the same time to keep this brief. So, without further ado, first rank goes to… Team CRDL, led by… Cardin Winchester!"

The audience applauded and the rather handsome leader of the first ranked team stood proud and absorbed the clapping. Ozpin kept going through multiple other teams to the point it became clear to Jaune and Ruby's teams that they had placed last. Ozpin reached near the end of the list, "We have two more teams left. Unfortunately for them however they had to be assisted out of the woods, meaning they did not exit through the gates before anyone else. As for their rank against each other, some deliberation determined that while it was one team that called in the evacuation, the other had been the one to start the situation calling for said evacuation in the first place. Therefore, fifteenth rank goes to… team JNPR, led by… Jaune Arc!"

Jaune's eyes became saucer wide as he was shocked into silence by his new rank. The two teams all patted him on the back, each one congratulating the white Knight on a well earned title by their regards, save Weiss and Blake who remained aloof and silent respectively. Ozpin kept going, "And final rank therefore goes to team RWBY, led by… Ruby Rose!"

The Jaune who had been shocked at his ranking was now the only one on either team left unshocked. The white knight obliviously acted as the only one to pat the wide eyed red hood on the back, "Wow! Nice goin' Ruby!"

Weiss and Blake both narrowed their eyes at the red leader while the rest of team JNPR looked at her concerned. Yang stomped forward and immediately grasped the attention of Ozpin in front of the audience, "Headmaster you can't be serious!" She swept a hand back to point at Ruby, "Putting my little sister in charge of a team?"

Ozpin put out a calming hand gesture from atop the podium towards Yang "Miss Xiao Long if you would just…"

Yang stomped her boot again, "No! Look headmaster, I was fine with letting her in early, but making her team leader?! You want the girl with two years less experience than all the others to watch out for us instead of us for her?!"

Ozpin's expression steeled and his voice hardened, "Miss Xiao Long, I advise you to cease this in public if you would like to avoid punishment."

Yang narrowed crimson eyes at Ozpin. The gold maned lioness began to point and open her mouth to issue even more roars, but Ruby walked up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder to interrupt her. Yang looked down to see her little sister and her expression became guilt, "Rubes… I'm sorry but I just…"

"No Yang, you're right." Ruby answered back in a cold yet slightly withdrawn way. "I didn't want this either. C'mon. We can talk with him privately later."

Yang accepted Ruby's suggestion and the two paced back to their team group together. Ozpin cleared his throat, "Yes, well, anyway that concludes all of our rankings and our day. I'd suggest you use the rest of the day to arrange your team's rooms, get to know each other, and rest after the exercise. Tomorrow will be the first day of classes. I expect great things from all of you. I pray that you shall live up to that expectation. Dismissed."

The students filed out of the auditorium once more.

* * *

Ruby approached a pair of solid wooden doors, finely crafted with intricately carved patterns of gears and golden knobs upon them. It was the entry to the headmaster's office, located right above the mechanical section of the clocktower. The section Ruby had to laboriously climb the stairs through to reach where she currently stood. The girl raised up a gently clenched fist but hesitated for a moment. Ruby took a deep breath to relax herself and tapped upon one of the doors with her knuckles. "Come in!"

Ruby acceded to the welcome and opened the door slowly, creaking it and peeking her head in cautiously before the rest of her body. The red hood saw the offices layout, a rather open area with the walls on each side being solid ones decorated with portraits of previous headmasters which alternated with thick green glass that showed huge structures of rotating cogs and gears. The floor itself was decorated with a circular such viewport and in the absolute rear of the room was the archlike window which was clearly the upper portion of the clockwork's face due to the presence of its minute hand being currently visible against the numerals decorating it. She softly squeaked, "Headmaster?"

Ozpin looked up from the monitor at his desk with a small hint of surprise and pushed his spectacles back up his ridgeline, "Miss Rose! I apologize, I was expecting someone else."

"Well I convinced Yang to let me talk to you alone sir." Ruby said as her body fully entered the office and she creaked closed the door behind her.

"Oh no, I didn't mean…" Ozpin let out a quick breath, "Actually, nevermind. How may I help you Miss Rose?"

Ruby manifested as much seriousness as she could to overcome her nervous demeanor, but it wasn't much, "I need you to assign a different leader to my team."

Ozpin cocked an eyebrow but quickly lowered it again and sighed. Ozpin interlocked his fingers in front of his face as he rested his elbows atop his desk, "I think I already know this but regardless, before I do anything I will ask you. Why Miss Rose?"

Ruby shyly looked at the floor with her hands brought together nervously rubbing in front of her, "I'm not cut out for it sir… The other girls on my team… Weiss hates me and Blake and Yang just… They don't look look up to me like that…"

Ozpin cocked his brow again, "So it is your teammates opinion of you that is the reason?"

"Not just that!" Ruby said with a slight volume increase as she looked directly at Ozpin. Ozpin didn't so much as flinch at the slight outburst and Ruby averted her gaze again, returning to her previous tone, "It's me… I'm clumsy, and shy, and awkward, and I'm younger and less experienced than everyone else…"

"And talented." Ruby looked up again at Ozpin's deliberate interruption. With the red hood's renewed attention Ozpin stood up from his desk with an old man's soft grunt and grabbed his cane. He walked around his desk and then towards Ruby while tapping the stick on the floor along every left step. Slightly leaning forward he addressed the much shorter girl, "Your leadership position was not some mere whim Miss Rose. It was selected with a vote from the entirety of the staff based on well studied evidence of your actions during the exercise."

"But-but I didn't do that great in the woods!"

"As a solo fighter? No. You didn't." Ozpin bent back upwards and looked down his nose through his glasses at Ruby who kept her curious gaze on him, "But as a _leader_? You did far better than any other girl on your team."

Ruby averted her gaze to the ground again, "That's not true…"

"Isn't it?" Ozpin asked, once again snapping Ruby's head up. The headmaster began pacing away from her around the circumference of the room, checking the various portraits along the walls absentmindedly, "Let me ask you something Miss Rose, if I were to replace you with one of the girls on your team which one would it be? Miss Xiao Long, who went through the woods hotheaded and basically ignored Miss Blake's advice? Or Miss Blake, who never spoke out or attempted to convince Yang of her better ideas when they were refused? Or perhaps Miss Schnee, whose arrogance and actions landed all of you in the terrible situation in the first place?" Ozpin immediately pivoted to look directly at Ruby again and pointed his cain towards her, eliciting a slight gasp from the girl, "Or you Miss Rose?" The headmaster began walking towards Ruby again, "The one who accepted input from everyone. The one who helped Mister Arc put full plans together from that input. The one who denied any sacrifices with the goal of getting everyone to safety."

Ruby stared wide eyed at the headmaster before stuttering a bit, "I-I was only doing what I thought was right…"

Ozpin stopped his forward motion and placed his right hand on Ruby's shoulder, "What you were doing was precisely what a leader _should_ do. Outthink and outmaneuver your enemy using every possibility to your advantage! Trust your fellow leaders and work alongside each other! Trust your followers and look out for them to bring them home safely!" Ozpin bent down substantially and got at the same level as Ruby to look in her eyes directly from which she flinched back, "There was no question among us. Every last staff member cast their vote for you Miss Rose. You ARE the leader of team Ruby." Ozpin snapped to his straight stand again, "All you need to do is convince everyone else of the same thing."

Ozpin walked back around his desk. As he did Ruby urged herself to ask him, "And how do I do that?"

"THAT, Miss Rose," Ozpin fell back into his seat, "you will need to figure out by yourself." He smirked, "Unless of course you'd still like to be replaced?"

Ruby thought hard for a moment and then gave steel eyes to the headmaster, "I'll… I'll try sir… for now."

"Excellent! I expect great things from you Miss Rose! Now go! I'm a busy man and I have another meeting scheduled for quite soon."

Ruby immediately stood at stiff attention, and began backpedaling towards the door, "Ah! Yes! Of course Headmaster! I'll just... be going then! Goodbye!" Just as the red hood turned to open the door it opened on it's own and she ran face first into a white blouse, "Oof!" Ruby was bounced slightly back and she looked to see who she'd run into, "Oh! Professor Goodwitch! I'm so sorry!"

Glynda adjusted her glasses as she looked professionally at Ruby, "It's quite alright Miss Rose. I assume you were headed out?"

"Yes!" Ruby nodded while stepping around the Professor out of the door and sideways so as to remain facing her, "Uh… See you tomorrow professor!…"

"I'll see you then as well Miss Rose." Glynda nodded and Ruby shut the door. The professor then turned to face Ozpin, "You called me Headmaster?"

Ozpin's face took on a serious expression as he steepled his fingers in front of it, "Yes Glynda, It is about the incident we had during the exercise."

"I was actually going to suggest we look into that Sir."

"I already have been. I asked Peter about the grimm that showed up to attack teams JNPR and RWBY."

"The creeps."

"And the devil creep, yes. Professor Port stated unequivocally that the creeps tend to remain in the mountains. That so many of them had somehow spawned in the forest could not have been some mere fluke."

Glynda cocked an eyebrow, "You think they were deliberately placed there by someone?"

"Indeed I do."

"The surveillance footage…"

"Erased for a certain period of time right before our exercise. Someone approached the forest with captured grimm of a higher threat than those normally housed there, hacked the gates and cameras, and set those creeps free to wreak havoc upon our newest students."

"But why?"

"Perhaps they realized this could have kept me quite occupied with media controversy and funeral arrangements had any of my students fallen victim to it."

"Who would want to distract you of all people? It isn't as though the headmaster is in charge of going after people, just training the ones that do."

"There is only one person I've ever gone after with what limited authority I have," Ozpin's chair spun and his brow furrowed. He looked out of the back window of his office. "but I thought them dead long ago."

Glynda didn't bother attempting to walk around to get back within the headmaster's line of sight, "You think they faked their own death?"

"I don't know. I have yet to uncover enough information."

"I'll look into it whenever I get the time."

Ozpin put his hand up in a flat halt gesture to the woman behind him, "There is no need for that, better you remain focused on the new students for now. They should remain our top priority. I merely wished to know if I could call upon you again if something else arises."

Glynda bowed loyally, "Of course you can Headmaster."

Ozpin's halt gesture went down, "Good."

Glynda stood back up, "Is that all sir?"

Ozpin waved her off with that same hand he'd used to halt her, "Yes, yes, you are more than welcome to go."

"Thank you sir." Glynda turned sharply and stepped briskly out of the room, her heels clacking against the tiles. Ozpin steepled his fingers with his elbows on the armrests and stared deeply thinking at the view of his school's grounds.

* * *

Ruby walked up to the door to her team's room and breathed deeply to calm herself before grasping the doorknob. She paused but eventually forced herself to turn it and enter. Weiss, Blake, and Yang were all present, Weiss arranging a closet while Blake tended to a bookshelf between the two bunk beds. Yang, who was layed back on her bed reading a magazine immediately sat up and saw her little sister, "Ruby!" Yang walked over to the entryway quick and faced her sister a bit concerned, "So uh… what did Ozpin say?..."

Ruby hesitated a little at the delicate situation but steeled herself as much as possible to try and deliver what she knew was going to cause problems, "Ozpin told me he wants me to stay leader."

Weiss scoffed, "Of course he did. He puts the klutz in charge and keeps her there. To imagine I thought coming here was a good idea…"

"Now listen here ice queen!..." Yang exclaimed while pointing at the heiress but Ruby grabbed her to interrupt her.

"Yang stop. It's not like you want me to be leader either." Ruby said flatly.

The gold maned girl went concerned again as she looked back at Ruby, "Ruby, look, I know Ozpin knows you're ok in a fight, but… he doesn't know how you are around people like I do." Yang knelt a bit to get on Ruby's eye level and held her shoulders, "It's my job to watch out for you sis, I just want what's best for you."

"Can't we both look out for each other Yang?" Ruby asked sincerely and innocently.

Yang hesitated for a moment but eventually locked a serious look on Ruby, "Ok Rubes, I'll go with you. So long as you're up front I'll back you up."

Weiss slammed shut the door to her closet causing Yang to stand fully straight again and shoot a crimson glare back at the heiress. The ice queen turned back to face the rest of the room, "Alright fine! We have Yang in favor of Ruby and me against her," Weiss then faced the black clad girl specifically, "that means it's up to Blake to decide." Blake stuck to her book arranging without turning around and Weiss stomped to get her attention, "Well Blake? What's your choice?"

Blake let out a rough sigh and turned around, sitting down with her back against the shelf, "I don't want to lead, and I don't want to be led by you," Blake said with eyes narrowed towards Weiss, "or you." Blake's narrowed eyes went towards the blonde, "so I guess Ruby is the only choice I have left."

Weiss growled, "Very well then," The heiress immediately turned and glared at Ruby, "but don't think for a second that I'll just accept your position. You might be a leader on the team roster but in my eyes you're still nothing but a klutz."

Weiss stomped with a stuck up look out the dorm room, slamming the door as she left. Yang looked with an embarrassed grin at the obviously sulking Ruby, "Oh, don't worry Rubes, I'm sure the ice queen'll come around eventually…"

Blake, who had turned back to her book organizing, gave out a scoff, "Yeah, maybe when all of remnant freezes over."

Ruby's shoulders sagged even more. Yang shot a glare back at Blake before quickly turning back to smile at Ruby to cheer her up, "Tell you what Rubes, how bout we go try and find you some sweets? That sound good?"

Ruby tilted her head up and nodded at Yang. The two sisters then left the room, leaving the black clad girl to sort her books and the white clad heiress to wander wherever she had gone to escape them.

And thus team RWBY was born.


	9. Volume 1 Chapter 9: Teambuilding

"What do we do when we wake each day?!" Professor Port called out in a bold tone to the four columns of students attempting to keep pace with his running from behind him.

"WHAT DO WE DO WHEN WE WAKE EACH DAY?!" Echoed the students dressed uniformly in green gym shorts and green t shirts tucked into them with the academy's symbol emblazoned upon their backs. They seemed to need to push themselves far harder than the prof seemed to push himself.

"Run for fun and to get our pay!"

"RUN FOR FUN AND TO GET OUR PAY!"

"And what do we do when we get back?!"

"WHAT DO WE DO WHEN WE GET BACK?!"

"Take a shower and hit the rack!"

"TAKE A SHOWER AND HIT THE RACK!"

"No way!"

"NO WAY!"

"Not me!"

"NOT ME!"

"All day!"

"ALL DAY!"

"PT!"

"PT!"

"It's good for you!"

"IT'S GOOD FOR YOU!"

"It's good for me!"

"IT'S GOOD FOR ME!"

Ruby controlled her breathing as much as possible while being pushed to her running limit on the right side of the Arc boy. Jaune himself struggled a bit less but still quite a lot more than he'd expected. Ruby began ignoring the running cadence and addressing Jaune while keeping her eyes straight ahead, "How… Is the old fat guy… so fast?..."

Jaune maintained his own position the same way, "It's… The legs… He's just got such long legs for a fat guy…"

Port put up a halt sign behind him and the formation stopped but maintained a stationary high knee run in place. Port then put down his arm and called back, "Rest!" The students stopped having to run in place and stood heavily breathing from their exertion. Port turned to face the formation seemingly completely free of the exhaustion one would expect from an old man, "Good run students! You all kept to my order not to use any aura enhancement, which is damned good since I'd have slayed you with another mile if I'd sensed that! Now all of you rinse off, change over to your uniforms, and grab breakfast at the chow hall! Class starts at zero-eight! Dismissed!"

The formation broke and Ruby kept close to Jaune as the students made their way off the outdoor physical training grounds. Ruby nearly caught back to her breath and crossed her arms in a pout, "I can't believe they don't let us use aura in this class…"

Jaune shrugged with a grin, "Ain't like I can use the enhancement techniques anyway. Besides even if you can the prof told us that the higher your base muscle gets the higher your enhanced ceiling gets, so to get stronger with aura you've gotta do it without aura anyway"

"Ugh. I still can't believe you never learned that stuff Jaune! A guy with your aura capacity _and _your muscles…" Ruby trailed off and her face flushed red for a small bit before she shook it off.

Luckily for Ruby Jaune didn't notice her blush and immediately chimed back, "Yeah yeah I know."

Jaune held open the door back into the indoor gym for them both as they walked through it. Ruby used this gentlemanly opportunity to recover and strike again, "Seriously though Jaune, why didn't you get that teaching anyway?"

Jaune kinda awkwardly looked around, "Well… uh… you know… with our big auras us Arcs kinda focus on tanking… I mean after all, you saw me charge through that flame!"

"Yeah, that is true…" Ruby let out. Jaune breathed a covert sigh of relief outside of her glance. Ruby sighed herself, "Who am I criticizing anyway? I mean everyone thinks you're a better leader than me even if you do lack the boosts." Ruby immediately widened her eyes at Jaune and caught him by his hands which caused him to reel back a little, "Please teach me how to get people to like my leadership!"

At this time Pyrrha Nikos held a semi long distance eye on the conversation between Jaune and Ruby. Alongside her walked Weiss, who glared at the two of them before turning her eyes towards Pyrrha, "What has you so interested in those two Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha stiffened, a bit startled, but then force settled herself while putting up her palms in a defensive wave, "Interested? I mean perhaps a bit… But mostly in Jaune!" Pyrrha's face went beet red and she waved more furiously, "I mean just how to be better friends with him is all! You know! To help develop our team bond! Yes! Nothing more than that!"

Weiss obliviously ignored the awkwardness, "So, what? You're spying on the Rose girl to see how such a nobody managed to get close to him? Well, I hate to break it to you Pyrrha but I have no idea why Jaune puts up with that clumsy, awkward brat and I doubt that you will come to better conclusions than I have."

Jaune pulled back one of his hands from Ruby's vice and scratched the back of his head, "I don't really know Ruby! I don't really get why they put me in charge or why everyone was ok with it. Sorry."

Ruby began shaking the hand she still gripped back and forth, "Come! On! Jaune! You gotta know something!"

"Agh! I don't know, ok?! Maybe it's because I made friends with Pyrrha and Ren before they joined up with me?" Jaune exclaimed in the middle of his shaking.

"Friends?" Ruby said as she immediately stopped the shaking.

"Um… yes!" Jaune steered into his answer since had stopped the shake.

Ruby cocked an eyebrow, "So you're telling me, the girl who could never make friends before Beacon and got Weiss to hate her instantly when she showed up, to try and get the Ice Queen to change her mind about me?"

"_Yeah_..." Jaune answered by drawing it out as his eyes rolled left, "Sure. Let's go with that."

"Alright then _Friendship Master Arc_, how exactly am I supposed to do that?"

"Well just be there for her, you know, be nice to her and help her out with stuff I guess."

Ruby rubbed her chin ponderously, "Help her out huh? Alright I'll give it a shot I guess."

Ruby and Jaune both began to walk through another set of doors but Jaune put out a hand in a stopping motion towards Ruby, "Uh Ruby…"

"What?" The red hood said slightly surprised.

"This is the boy's locker room." Jaune pointed up and Ruby's eyes were directed towards the male symbol sign emblazoned above the doorway.

Ruby saw all the other boys as they walked through the same doors face turned red as her hood, "Oh! Right! Of course!" The girl turned her head back over her shoulder to see the set of doors the rest of the females were walking into. She looked back to Jaune embarrassed and thumb pointed with both her hands over her shoulders, "Imma just!… go then!" Ruby turned around stiff and quick and began swiftly stepping towards the doors, "Bye-Jaune-see-you-at-breakfast!"

Ruby became the last girl into the female lockers as she kept her head out of the door while her legs kept walking in so she could finish her goodbye to Jaune before immediately slamming the door behind herself. Jaune grinned and shook his head as he watched all of this before heading into his own locker room.

* * *

"Welcome students!" Port said enthusiastically as the class was filled in by students wearing black blazers and white collared shirts. The girls wore these over verdant skirts above the knees and simply crossed rather than bowed green ribbons under the collar, while the boys had green trousers and neck ties, "Make sure your teams take up seats next to each other! Leaders you make sure you sit close to the center near those steps so if I need to call you up it'll be easier! Actually, matter of fact do so in team acronym order, so leader near the center then next letter beside them and so on!" The students did as Professor Port said. Ruby silently self congratulated as she sat next to the W in her team name while Weiss averted her gaze from the red hood. Port looked out over the room with hands on his hips and a puffed out chest to make sure everyone was seated properly, "Excellent! Now! Let's get right into the lecture!"

"Psst. Weiss." Ruby whispered at her W who ignored her. Ruby just kept going quietly, "Weiss. Hey Weiss!"

Weiss tensed up and finally faced Ruby to whisper back, "What!?"

"You got enough note taking stuff?"

Weiss turned back to pay attention, "Yes."

Ruby frowned and turned back, "Ok…"

Port turned around and pulled down a screen with paintings of various grimm with labels pointing towards their body parts. He then faced back towards the class and pointed backwards at the anatomy portraits, "These, my students, are the grimm!" Port let out a chuckle, "Quite obvious since you've all already seen them I know! But there are certain aspects of each one that it's good for a huntsman to know before he goes out and faces them in a real life or death struggle!" Port emphasized "life or death" with a boxer's mimed series of jabs before going back to his normal stand, "That's what this class is for! To ensure you know your enemy so that you can take advantage of their every weakness!"

Port cleared his throat, "Ahem, but before we delve into specifics let's make sure you all have your basics! So! Can anyone here tell me what it is a grimm is made from?"

Weiss' hand immediately shot up and before even being called upon she knowingly answered, "Aura."

"Precisely Miss Schnee!" Port exclaimed positively as he pointed towards the heiress. Weiss put on a smug grin and the prof continued, "Unlike the beasts who have bodies without aura, or the humans and faunus who have bodies with aura, the grimm have bodies _made_ from aura! And just as we can sense their aura with _our _aura, they can sense ours! Indeed this is what drives the grimm to attack us. As beings of pure aura they kill us so that they might absorb the thing within us that generates aura and grow stronger from it. Call it the core or soul or whatever you like, but, whatever it is, it is what makes us their prey."

Port immediately perked up, "But of course what makes them _our _prey is the oath we all swear not only to protect the people from them but to actively hunt them down that we might settle new areas and expand our borders! That, students, is what makes us huntsmen! Why I remember back when I'd just graduated the academy and my team was hired to go down south to scope out a nearby spot for a potential dust mine…"

Port began giving a bold retelling of his past adventure and Ruby took the opportunity to try at Weiss again, "Psst. Weiss. Weiss!"

"What is it!"

"Did you miss any notes? I can show you mine if you need any."

Weiss glared at Ruby, "I. Do not. Need any help. From you. And I never will."

Ruby slumped her shoulders at her obvious helper failure and sighed quietly, "So much for Jaune's first advice… Guess I'll have to hit him up after class for something else to try…"

Port was making various gestures to attempt to visually describe his adventure, currently he was in the middle of a gritty grappling posture, "So there I was! Disarmed and forced to try and choke the devil wyvern from the rear with nothing but my bare hands! Then, just as the beast caught its ground and jabbed it's stinging tail straight down at me!..." Immediately the school's clock bell began ringing telling the Professor that the time for class had ended. Port interrupted himself with a throat clear, "Ahem, well students I'll just continue this epic yarn tomorrow, for now just make it to your next class! Dismissed!"

Weiss clapped the notebook she had in front of her closed harshly, stiffly stood, placed her gear in her shoulder satchel, and marched out of the room around the back of Ruby's seat. Meanwhile the red hood fumbled around to try and quickly satchel her equipment, dropping and having to pick up several small items. In the process she was walked around by her entire already packed team, getting an assistant pick up from Blake and a pat on the back from Yang. Ruby eventually succeeded in storing her stuff and rushed out of the classroom's hatches into the hall.

Pyrrha Nikos was walking through the hallway, slowly gaining on the white knight she sought to initiate a strolling conversation with. To her dismay though, out from behind her shot a red hood that ran up to Jaune's side and grabbed him by the upper arm to shake him, "Jaune! Your advice didn't work! All my offer to help did was annoy her!"

"Agh! Stop it Ruby! I'm sorry ok!" Jaune said back as he was rocked back and forth in a manner much to harsh for any teenager, let alone an infant.

"I need you to come up with something better for me Jaune!" Ruby said in a serious tone as she held him to stop him from escaping rather than to shake him.

"Fine!" Jaune surrendered, "Have you tried complimenting her?"

"_Compliments_? Seriously? For the Ice Queen who always calls me a klutz?" Ruby said with a cocked eyebrow.

"Well you're not exactly a ballerina…" Jaune said out the corner of his mouth before receiving a punch in the upper arm from Ruby, "Ow! Ok fine! Yes! Just compliment her! Tell her she's smart, or a good fighter, or hell, just tell her she's pretty! Anything to get her to think you like and respect her!"

Ruby released Jaune's arm and glared him down, "Are you sure that'll actually work this time?"

Jaune put his chin up and straightened his blazer collar, "Trust me Ruby. If there's _one_ thing my grandfather taught me it's how to get women to like you."

Ruby rolled her eyes, "_Sure_, Jaune. You're doing _real _great with that."

Jaune pointed an accusing finger at Ruby, "Hey, you got any other options here?"

Ruby crossed her arms and pouted, "No." The red hood relaxed, "Fine Jaune I'll give it a shot," Ruby pointed her finger at the mop headed blonde, "but if it doesn't work I'm coming back to you until you figure out something that does!"

Having eavesdropped on the conversation and noticed the ending of it Pyrrha walked up closer behind Jaune and inhaled about to say something, only for the blonde boy to turn immediately right and go through the double doors to the next classroom that Pyrrha hadn't noticed were there due to her boy focus. Pyrrha dropped her hand and sagged her shoulders as she opened the doors herself to go sit in her usual spot next to Ren that was guarded from Jaune by Nora. Nora noticed the other redhead's bad mood and gave her a tight squeeze that lifted and suffocated her more than it cheered her up.

* * *

A curiously disheveled look plagued the man standing in the center of the class right in front of the professor's desk. But strangely he stood perfectly straight and had no flaws in his posture one might expect from a largely spectacled man with uncombed green hair who wore a loose yellow tie in his half tucked white shirt. The man held in his left hand a mug emblazoned with the school's emblem that steamed up, no doubt holding hot tea or coffee. The man's speech pattern pointed more towards the coffee.

"Hello students hello! Sit sit, quickly now! We have much to go over today!" The students began hustling a bit faster to their positions but the coffee drinker didn't even bother letting all of them sit before he continued, "Greetings class! My name is Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck, but you all may refer to me as… Doctor Oobleck!" The confused class collectively shrugged but Oobleck carried on quickly, "I am your travel and survival professor and yes, I am a doctor! After all it doesn't ever hurt to travel with someone who can patch you up in an emergency!" Oobleck immediately closed the distance between himself and the front of the student body which collectively recoiled, "Or at least, it doesn't hurt much through the anesthetics."

Oobleck rushed back, letting the students relax, "So, let's start from the top shall we?" Oobleck immediately and quickly pulled down a map screen and smacked the northernmost portion with his pointing stick as he took another sip from his mug, "Solitas! The northernmost continent! Who can tell me the nation and capital located there?" Weiss raised her hand immediately again and opened her mouth to answer without being called upon, but Oobleck easily outsped her, running up in front of her and pointing his stick in her face making her reel back from it, "Yes, Miss Schnee!"

Weiss calmed herself and proceeded with her answer, "The nation is Mantle and its capital is Atlas."

"Correct!" Oobleck cried, snapping back behind his desk, "Easy to expect from one who lived there but good regardless! Atlas of course evolved from a mere school into an entire city and it is from there that the most expansive nation of Mantle is governed by a council of five. Now moving down to Sanus we have the kingdom of Vale here on the eastern half of the continent and the dynastic empire of Vacuo on the western half. Then over here to the far east on Anima lies Mistral and down below that Menagerie. For the most part us huntsmen stick to the place we come from but if you want or need to go somewhere else it's usually best to take a ship or train there rather than walk. Of course aircraft might be even better but all that have been made simply don't have the range to make it that far on their own under the dust engines…"

Oobleck went off on his lecture now and Ruby whispered at Weiss again, "Psst. Weiss. Weiss!" Weiss merely glared at Ruby who started her awkward compliment, "I uh… just wanted to tell you that you've been acting pretty smart today!"

Weiss cut off her glare to look away from the red hood, "Those questions were common knowledge. All I did was raise my hand first."

Ruby began flailing for another compliment, "Uh… well… even so you are definitely good in the survival class! I mean we'd have never got out of those woods if you hadn't set them on fire."

"Stop. Mentioning. That." Weiss said sternly.

Ruby thought hard but was forced to pull out the only thing she had left, "Um… Alright… Say… has anybody ever told you how pretty you look?"

Weiss didn't even bother responding. The school bell rang once more and Oobleck perked up to it, "Oh! That's the lunch bell! Students you are dismissed! Go on, quickly, quickly! I have much work to do between classes!"

Weiss once again clapped close her notebook and quickly marched out while Ruby just sighed at another failure. Blake walked by shaking her head at the awkward attempts and as Yang walked past she patted Ruby on the back consoling her, "You'll get her next time Rubes."

Ruby's head fell down to the desk defeated.

* * *

Pyrrha Nikos walked through the chow hall in search of the precise spot she wanted to place her tray. There at one of the two seat tables was Jaune Arc. Now was the perfect opportunity to speak with him alone! Pyrrha stood with poise and initiated the most graceful walk she could think to pull off when, from around the nearby corner, out shot a short girl who slammed her tray down in front of Jaune, startling him a bit, and yanked the chair out from beneath the table to sit in it, "Your compliment plan didn't work Jaune! She still hates me!"

Pyrrha's shoulders sagged again and she walked away to find somewhere else to sit. Meanwhile Jaune kept a safe distance from the fork Ruby was brandishing at him over his failed scheme, "Look, Ruby, I don't know what to tell you, ok? If you can't get through to Weiss with this stuff then I got nothing left to suggest."

Ruby sighed and put her fork down, "I just don't get it Jaune. It's clear you don't know how to get people to like you but it just happens anyway. I mean it even happened with me! Meanwhile I try to do it your way and it's useless for me! It's like you were just born with it or something."

"Hey, it's not useless for you, I mean you've got me after all, and Yang! That's two right there!"

Ruby snorted uncaringly, "You only like me because I lucked out into being the first person you talked to here," Ruby took a huge sip from her milk carton before slamming it back to the table, "And Yang is my big sister not a friend. All she does is treat me like a little kid all the time." Ruby sagged towards the table, "I thought maybe I'd gotten a foot in the door with Blake but she always keeps to herself. I'm just lousy at this whole thing Jaune…"

Jaune put his hand on Ruby's shoulder and she looked up at him, "Look Ruby, I know I told you ways to go after it before, but maybe if they just spend more time with you they'll come around."

Ruby pouted, "Yeah but I'd prefer for them to just get it over with."

Meanwhile Pyrrha made her downtrodden walk to another table when she heard a call, "Pyrrha!" The warrior princess turned to see the ice queen gracefully beckoning her, "Come sit with me." Pyrrha did as she was told by Weiss and the heiress got straight into her point, "I saw you get your seat taken by Ruby just now."

"You did?!" Pyrrha attempted to recompose herself after saying that, "I mean, it's not so bad, after all Jaune is allowed to sit with whoever he wants…"

Weiss put up a flat hand to halt Pyrrha's talking, "Look Pyrrha, I was trying to give you time to reveal it on your own to me, but after what has gone on today I can no longer keep my awareness under wraps. I know perfectly well you have feelings for Jaune."

Pyrrha's face went extremely red but she still tried to cover herself, "Well, yes, of course, he is my teammate and friend after all so why wouldn't…"

"_Romantic _feelings." Pyrrha's mouth hung open mid sentence and her entire body froze. Weiss continued calmly, "Not that I have any idea _why _someone like you would fall for a boy like that, but I am your friend so I will do all I can to help you ensnare him."

Pyrrha snapped out of her daze immediately and grabbed Weiss by the collar to pull her face close desperately, "_Please_ don't tell him!"

Weiss slapped the hands away, "Of course I'm not going to tell him! That's your job! All I'm going to do is make Ruby step away from him so you can take her spot."

"How are you going to do that?" Pyrrha asked with a wide eyed trust directed towards Weiss.

"_That_, Miss Nikos, is precisely what I will be able to do in the next class." Weiss held a smug look on her face as Pyrrha stared at her in grateful awe.

* * *

Glynda Goodwitch paced left to right with her riding crop behind her back in front of a class of combat outfitted students as though she were less of a professor and more of a prison warden. Her glare lingered on every individual student just long enough that it seemed to pierce into their very souls, "In spite of your familiarity with me introductions remain in order. I am Professor Glynda Goodwitch, your combat instructor. My job is to enforce the knowledge of tactics, weaponry, armor, and aura as well as the skills and techniques needed to utilize all of them. To do so I will often initiate sparring matches between you to determine what you possess and what you lack."

Glynda's eyes seemed to lock onto Jaune at the word "lack" and he gulped nervously. Glynda merely continued speaking, "Since I cannot allow any of you to come to harm under my supervision I shall regulate the matches with my aura sense which has been honed to high accuracy. If yours runs too low and you'd lose a real fight then I will call out to cease the match." Glynda stomped to face the class as her pacing path reached the center, "You must all prepare yourselves to freeze in place upon my command so that none of you acquire needless injury. Any questions?"

None of the class raised a hand. "Very well, in that case let's get right down to business. Who will rise up as the first challenger?" Weiss' hand instantly shot up. Glynda immediately caught sight of it, "It seems the first challenger this year will be Miss Schnee. Tell me who it is you'd like to spar."

Without missing a beat Weiss responded, "Ruby Rose!"

Yang shot up from her seat and pointed fiercely at the heiress with a crimson eyed glare, "Now listen here Ice Queen! If you want my sister you gotta go through me first!"

Ruby herself now rose up at Yang, "No Yang, it's fine." Ruby looked down towards Glynda, "I accept Professor!"

Yang became uncomfortable, "Come on Ruby you don't need to…"

"I said it's fine." The red hood interrupted with steel eyes. Her metallic view then turned slightly to Weiss, "If this is the only way to get her respect then I'll do it."

Weiss stepped down towards the arena with a smug grin and Ruby followed her. The two each stood on opposite ends of the ring. Glynda looked at each of them, "So. A teammate against their leader. Just like every first match of every first year class." Glynda sighed exasperatedly at what she'd clearly seen many times, "Well best to get this out of the way early. Both of you ready yourselves." Ruby adjusted her stance, taking the scythe she had carried on her shoulder down and holding it extended behind her in a form that would lead easily into a parrying or striking swing. Weiss unsheathed her rapier and held it point forward with her wielding arm fully extended while her off hand lay fisted on the small of her back. Glynda took one more look between them "Begin!"

Immediately Weiss placed a white glyph on the heel of her foot and flew forward towards Ruby in a thrust. Ruby's own propulsive semblance couldn't replicate such a move in this environment free of vertical surfaces but it did have one advantage. Ruby directed her Rose rush at Weiss as she flew forward. Ruby might rocket off things that had significantly more mass than her or were immovable but those that were less massive could be pushed away from her. And if there was one thing she'd known about Weiss from the moment they'd met it was that the ice queen weighed less than she did.

Weiss's momentum shifted down in a minor flurry of Rose petals and she was stopped short, thereby tripping since she had landed in an unsuspected spot. Ruby took advantage of her opponent's prone state, bringing her scythe swiftly overhead in an aura enhanced downward swing. Such a strike might very well have broken the penetration threshold of even a full capacity aura but Weiss predicted such a move and rolled aside, shooting a short range burst of flame towards Ruby as she did. Ruby easily hopped back out of the fire's range but Weiss was just buying herself time to stand.

The heiress formed another heel glyph and Ruby stood ready for it, but this time Weiss didn't go straight ahead but diagonally before forming another glyph to Ruby's open left side and coming at her from that direction. Ruby was forced to pivot and parry the thrust to the left but was able to lead that into a counter via an uppercutting rabat with the spiked butt of her scythe's shaft. Weiss slightly hopped back to avoid the rabat and then thrust in again at Ruby's side. Ruby parried again into a swinging counter towards Weiss' left shoulder but Weiss was inside of the scythe's reach and so merely took the shaft hitting her shoulder to take a slight dent to her aura.

At this Ruby grinned, she pushed Weiss back with another rose rush, this time with more aura behind it, and pulled her scythe into a backward raking slash further powered by her pulling the trigger to set off the recoil of its built in rifle. Weiss gasped a bit but immediately reacted, placing a black glyph on herself _and _on the scythe, momentarily preventing both their movement. She released the glyph on herself just as the other shattered under Ruby's resistant aura being driven through her weapon. Ruby stumbled a bit from the shattering and Weiss wasted no time to drive a thrust toward Ruby's throat.

"Halt!" The tip of Weiss' rapier stopped an inch short of its destination. Both students swiveled nought but their eyes towards Glynda from their frozen position. Glynda herself turned towards the rest of the class which gave the two combatants the signal to unfreeze, "Miss Schnee is the winner. Miss Rose bet all her aura on that rake slash which Miss Schnee was able to counter with her semblance, throwing off Miss Rose. Had this been a real fight..."

Weiss ignored Glynda's lecture on the match and whispered towards Ruby, "That's not the only way I could have won you know. There were several times the black glyphs could have immobilized you and left you open."

Ruby gave back steel eyes and whispered back, "So then why not just do that from the start?"

Weiss smirked, "I only toyed around with you to give the crowd a show," the heiress then stepped forward to get in Ruby's face, "and to give you a lesson. I outmatch you in every way. The fact that you are leader is a mistake. The fact that another leader even bothers consorting with you is a mistake." Weiss' smug face became a glaring one, "From now on stay away from Jaune and never forget your true status. _Below. Me_."

The school bell rang as Glynda finished her lecture. Weiss's face went smug again and she pivoted and began walking out of the ring gracefully as Ruby stood there for a second, metallically still, and Glynda addressed the class, "Students you are dismissed for the day. You may now leave and take part in whatever activities you wish to do to unwind, either on the school grounds or outside of them. Remember however that twenty-two hundred is the school's curfew so I'd advise you to get back within the gates before we close them at that hour."

The students all began filing out of the class and Ruby stomped down from the arena and up the stairs out. The red hood steel eyed Weiss as she saw the white haired girl get alongside Pyrrha and go through the classroom doors. Yang sided up on Ruby with an oblivious smile, "So Rubes, where you wanna go tonight? You heard the prof, the whole city is our oyster, and I'll treat my little sis to anything for a good first day!"

"I gotta go do something." The red hood said firmly back to her sister before speeding up her pace out the doors.

"Uh… Ruby?" Yang said as she stood still a bit confused for a moment before running after her little sister who had sped off, "Hey! Ruby, wait!"

Pyrrha looked at Weiss a bit guiltily as they walked alongside one another down the halls. Weiss glimpsed Pyrrha like this and sighed, "What is it Pyrrha? Go ahead. Out with it."

Pyrrha awkwardly rubbed her upper arm, "When you said you would get Ruby to leave me some space for Jaune I didn't think…"

"Didn't think what? That I'd beat her in a fight to do it?" Weiss looked at Pyrrha lecturingly, "This is a _huntsmen _academy Pyrrha. Your skill in a battle is what goes for the most among those here. That is why you and I deserve to be at the top instead of where we are now." Weiss then looked forward again, "Besides, as my father always says 'to make an omelet you have to break a few eggs.'"

"Ice Queen!"

Weiss and Pyrrha both turned to see the red hood stomping angrily towards them, followed closely by Yang. Weiss immediately stepped up a bit towards Ruby, "I thought I made it more than clear how you should!..."

Ruby barrelled straight through Weiss' words and thrust a pointed finger directly at her heart so hard it pushed her back the step she'd taken forward, "Listen up _Ice. Queen. _I went up to the headmaster's office to get taken off leader! You wanna know _how _Ozpin convinced me to keep the position? _Why_ he and the rest of the staff chose _me _over _you_?" Ruby poked Weiss' chest again and again on the "me" and "you," "It's because you are an arrogant, walking disaster who nearly burnt down the forest and got us all sicced on by creeps! If it wasn't for me, Jaune, and the rest of us you'd be lying dead in a creep hole! You think you're such an amazing girl, but really you are worth less than the grimms you nearly got us all mauled by!"

Pyrrha, Yang, and Weiss all stood in shocked, wide eyed terror at Ruby's incredible and uncharacteristic stabs at Weiss' heart. Weiss' face transitioned slowly from stunned to red with absolute rage. Weiss' left hand grabbed her rapier scabbard tight as her entire body tensed, "Why. You! LITTLE!..."

A thunderclap sounded from behind Ruby and Weiss looked quickly to see Yang's right fist held by her left palm and eyes of crimson steel staring her down. A low, steady voice emanated from Yang's throat "Ice Queen. If you so much as _dare _to touch my sister, this fist is gonna go through what's left of your aura after that match and balance out that scar you got on the other side of your pretty little face."

Weiss was obviously and truly terrified by this unmistakable threat especially given her lowered aura. The heiress immediately turned and scurried away out the doors to the outer grounds which she slammed behind her. Her steeled eyes watered a bit as she made a run for the gates.

"Weiss!" Pyrrha called far too late with an outstretched hand which she immediately lowered.

Ruby scoffed and started stomping off, "I'm leaving for the city."

Yang turned towards her sister with her eyes back to lilac and took a couple steps to start following her, "Hold up Rubes…"

"Alone!" Ruby said with a steel glance back over her shoulder by which Yang was instinctively stunned still.

Ruby slammed the door on the opposite end of the corridor, leaving Yang and Pyrrha standing awkwardly near each other for several unbreached moments. Yang eventually forced a grin and chuckle on herself, "So uh… Pyrrha! You wanna go spend a girl's night out with me? It'll be my treat!"

Author's note: Sorry I'm a little late on this one. Soon as I got home friday I got pretty hammered and forgot to post.


	10. Volume 1 Chapter 10: Roman

Ruby made her way down the well lit streets of one of Vale's districts. This particular one was commercial, meant to attract customers to various shops and restaurants. Ruby looked at the windows not to view what was behind them but to focus on her own reflection. She let out a pained sigh towards her image, "Nice going Rubes, you completely blew any chance of being friends just because you got angry for a second." Ruby paused for a second before she flared up again, balled up a fist tight in front of her and pulled her eyes off the window mirror to march away, "Over the Jaune part! I don't care if she feels like she's better than me, after all she's pretty much right on that one. I just don't get why she'd try to threaten me off of my only friend here!"

As Ruby rounded a corner she immediately saw a Schnee symbol emblazoned on a sign hanging over one of the shops in front of her. It was a dust shop supplying various forms of the element for personal use, everything from batteries for appliances to ammunition. Her shoulders sagged and she palmed her face, "Ugh. I just can't get away from this stuff, can I?"

Ruby turned around immediately to head as far away from the Schnee icon as she could on her little random walk, but a screeching sound from behind her reversed her turn almost immediately. As the red hood looked back she saw a pair of black vans rush up in the street park sidelong to the shop. Out of the vans rushed a group of black suited men with red ties, each one wielding a submachine gun. Ruby gasped and immediately ducked behind the corner to peak out from the cover. Half the suited men posted up around the area ringing the vans and got into kneeling positions where they aimed their guns outward. The other half strode forward behind a different looking man.

The apparent leader of the armed thugs wore a white coat over black trousers, boots, gloves, and a shirt. A gray ascot adorned the tall man's neck while a black bowler hat with a red band did the same to the sweeping ginger hair that concealed the right side of his face and in his right hand was a cane he clearly didn't need to carry for walking purposes. The well dressed boss raised his fingers to grasp the cigar held in his mouth so that he could take a puff from it. He took the smoking cigar down from his lips and turned towards the men to his rear, "Well?" He asked incredulously with his arms outstretched. The boss threw his harmless smoking product angrily into the middle of the crowd of thugs which all cowered back from the toss, "Light this place up already!"

The hesitant thugs collected themselves and swarmed past the boss with one rank of them kneeling in front of a standing rear rank. These two ranks readied their smgs and unleashed a simultaneous rain of automatic shots upon the windows and doors, destroying the normally bullet resistant surfaces through sheer volume of fire. Once the breaking was successful the boss pointed his cane towards the shop, "Alright get in there and grab everything! And make it quick! We can't stay around here too long."

Ruby's eyes widened and lit up at what she was seeing. With an absurd grin on her face she began dancing up and down, "Ooh! It's a real life robbery!" Ruby deliberately got hold of her excitement and put a game face on, "Alright Ruby, time for some huntress work!"

The red hood pulled her scythe from its collapsed state inside a sheath on the rear of her belt and extended it to its proper form before quickly leaping across the street and planting a heel against a wall with a perfect view of the thugs. This was Rose Rush's advantage over the white glyphs, while Weiss' semblance could propel her from anywhere it did so at a fixed speed. The speed Rose Rush propelled Ruby away from something or something away from her was dependant on the difference in their mass as well as how much aura she dumped into it. From a building like this she wouldn't need much, but for this improvised plan much was involved.

Ruby rocketed forward from off the wall towards the ranks of thugs and struck both with the pole portion of her scythe, sweeping them out of the way of the boss. The leader of the gang glanced around quickly in surprise, "What the hell?"

"I'd give it up if I were you mister criminal." the leader instantly turned and locked his eyes onto the red hooded girl standing triumphantly atop a group of knocked out or groaning thugs with a scythe resting on her right shoulder.

The gang boss looked confused for a few seconds before bellowing into laughter and pointing an amused finger at the girl, "And who's gonna stop me pipsqueak? _You_?"

Ruby stomped on one of the thugs who groaned again, "What the!?... I just took out eight of your goons in one shot!"

"Yeah you did," the boss said in a sardonic tone, "and now the other eight are gonna take you out in a thousand. Get her boys!"

With that Ruby's eyes widened as eight smg barrels pointed towards her. Ruby sprang out of the way of the fire they unleashed with another rush, and as they followed her still spraying they shot up the surroundings. Ruby's rush planted her feet on the side of a building where she used the instant and fleeting solid ground to fire a shot from her rifle at one of the thugs. The goon spun around, gripping his right arm where he'd been hit and Ruby propelled herself once more to get behind one of the black vans as cover. The thugs hesitated at shooting up their own escape vehicle and their leader growled, "Don't just sit there, flank the van!"

Two thugs went around each side of the van, but just as they disappeared they reappeared, one seemingly uppercut to fall over backwards and the other's feet immediately poking out from behind the car. Before the other ones, now down to five, could react Ruby dove out of cover, fired a shot into another one, and rolled behind the opposite van. The boss groaned and shook his head, "If you want something done right…"

Ruby sprang up on top of the van this time but was immediately knocked back off with a flare like projectile that seemed to explode upon contact with her instinctively raised shield. Ruby shook her head with her eyes still closed then opened them as she started getting up from the ground only to see four smg barrels and one barrel of a gun disguised as a cane all pointing at her while she was prone and helpless. The boss cocked a smile towards the trapped girl, "Any last words _pipsqueak_?"

Ruby couldn't really come up with anything but she didn't need to. Out of seemingly nowhere a huge mass of ice engulfed the two thugs to the right of the boss while a white glyph knocked the one directly left of him into the one on the far left. A white blur launched over Ruby from behind her and struck at the gangster leader who dodged aside. The figure that stood across from the boss in a fencing stance was now clearly Weiss. The boss smiled even through the ambush, "Well well well, what have we here? If it isn't the heiress of the very place I've been robbing!"

Weiss narrowed her gaze at the criminal mastermind, "If you know who I am, then you should know what I am capable of. I'd suggest you surrender."

Ruby got up to her feet and into her own ready pose, but the leader oddly enough relaxed away from any fighting stance and took up a rather casual looking one where he merely spun his cane around like a toy. He sighed sarcastically, "'I'm afraid I can't do that Ice Queen, after all going to jail is just not a fun time. But I tell you what! Instead of giving myself up, how about I meet you and your little red friend in the middle and just retreat?"

Before either girl could do anything the cane spinning stopped with the walking stick's gun aimed in a downward angle between the two of them. The boss yanked a trigger and a huge cloud of gray smoke popped up that both girls began coughing in before leaping backwards out of it. Ruby turned her aura sense on but couldn't find her escaped prey. The red hood turned towards the still slightly coughing Weiss, "Weiss, I can't sense him!"

Weiss gave up the cough, "I can't either," the heiress sheathed Myrtenaster while growling, "he must be suppressing his aura. The crook who nearly stole from my family's shop has escaped."

Ruby gasped, "The shop! Quick we need to go check on the shopkeep!" Ruby ran immediately into the store while the heiress to it followed her. The red hood put hands to her mouth and called out, "Shopkeep! Are you here?! Are you ok?! It's safe to come out, we fought off the bandits for you!"

"I-I'm back here!" Ruby heard what sounded like an old man's voice coming from behind the bullet riddled counter. She and Weiss rushed over to it to find a short, squinty eyed, balding old man in a schnee salesman uniform holding his upper left leg which seemed badly in pain. Ruby gasped and leapt over the counter to see if the old man could stand by supporting himself on her shoulder which he could. The two of them hobbled him over to a nearby chair and sat him down, "Thank you for defending me ladies, I knew this might happen but I had just had the security system upgraded so I thought the police would arrive in time."

Weiss cocked an eyebrow, "Knew it might happen? So this has happened before and recently? Is it all by that same gang?"

The old man nodded, "Yes, the Torchwick gang, led by Roman Torchwick, the man you just beat if I'm not mistaken." Ruby and Weiss shot curious looks at the old man but before they could inquire further police sirens started being heard by the two girls and the old man addressed them, "Speaking of police you two should probably get out before the cops come in, they'll question anybody they find and it's best if two huntsman candidates stay clean of that."

Weiss bristled a bit at this but ultimately agreed, "He's right. I can't risk any negative press on my name."

Ruby glared a second at Weiss before looking at the old man concerned, "Are you sure you'll be ok on your own with that leg?"

"This little scratch?" The old man bluffed off the question, "Girly I was a huntsman once upon a time myself, I've been through much worse than this. Now go, the back door is unlocked for ya!"

Ruby nodded at the man and she and Weiss both went out into the back alley as the sirens and lights blared and flashed closer to their position. The two of them sprinted through the back alleys a little until they got to a distance they perceived would be out of the crime zone panting a bit. Weiss was the first to recover her breath and she glared at Ruby, "What were you doing there at that shop Rose?"

Ruby recovered her breath too, "I wasn't there on purpose if that's what you're asking me Ice Queen. I was wandering around town aimlessly when I found this whole mess and decided to clean it up."

"A klutz like you nearly _got _cleaned up. Just ignore this so I can handle it on my own."

Weiss turned and began walking off but Ruby grabbed her shoulder to stop her, "Are you saying you're going to try and take down this whole organization?"

Weiss turned back quickly enough that she threw the hand off her shoulder and raised her chin, "Of course I am! If those street rats are attacking dust shops then likely they'll be targeting all of the Vale branches of the SDC. I can't just sit by while my family business gets robbed, I have a responsibility to uphold our security." Weiss leaned in towards Ruby smugly, "I'd like to see someone as inferior to me as you try and prevent me from carrying out such duty."

"I don't wanna prevent you at all," Ruby said rather excitedly, "I wanna help you!"

Weiss stared blankly back at the red hood, "What?"

"You heard me! I want to help you take down the Torchwick gang!"

"_You _won't help me at all." Weiss said poking Ruby's chest, "If I pair up with you all you'll do is trip me up."

"Argh! Weiss you saw how Torchwick got away from both of us easy! You can't expect to be able to trap him on your own!"

Weiss got in Ruby's face again, "I am one of the two best in the school. _If _I need help from someone I'd much rather rely on Pyrrha than you."

Weiss turned and began walking off again, and Ruby's face went down for a second before she perked up with a thought, "If you want Pyrrha I can get you her _plus_ extra people." Weiss stopped and stared narrow eyed back over her shoulder and so Ruby continued at the newly piqued interest, "I'm Jaune's best friend after all, he always helps me and his teammates will all follow him no matter what." Ruby rocked back and forth from heel to toes and performed a childlike lookaway to create obviously fake innocence, "I'm sure if I just talk to him a little we can get him to loan us his whole team," Ruby ceased looking away and stared down Weiss with a grin, "that is, _if _you let me join in…"

Weiss growled, turned completely and stomped towards Ruby, slightly backing up the red hood. The ice queen thrust a hand towards Ruby and the red hood flinched closing her eyes, but after a few seconds of not having felt anything Ruby looked down to see the hand extended in a shaking position, "Fine Rose. You and I will work together with JNPR, but I swear if you…"

Ruby interrupted, grabbing the extended hand with both of hers and shaking it vigorously, "Thanks Weiss! You won't regret this!"

Weiss pulled back her hand from the vicious shaking and cast a softer glare than usual on Ruby, "I already regret it. I honestly don't see why you even want to help me with my own family issue in the first place after how you've been behaving towards me."

"What do you mean Weiss?" Ruby asked with what was this time a perfectly genuine look of innocence, "I want to be a huntress, fighting grimm and crime is what huntresses do."

Weiss was taken aback by the sincerity of that statement and she looked away a bit, "That's… that's just a preposterous notion… Come on. Let's go back to the academy."

"Yeah we should try to make it back before…" Ruby said while pulling out her scroll to view it, "Oh my god! It's already twenty one thirty, quick Weiss we gotta run back fast before they close the gates!" Ruby grabbed Weiss and turned her so she could push her from behind in a fast run back to their dorm room.

* * *

Ruby and Weiss entered the room of their team together, the shutting of the door alerting Yang to their presence. The golden mane sat up from her mag reading on the bed again and went wide eyed at seeing Ruby back so late. Yang rushed over in her black sleeping shorts and yellow tank top to get down to Ruby's eye level and grab her, "Ruby! Why were you out so late?! I was worried you might not make it back on time and get punished!" Yang looked the red hood over as she said all this and discovered a bit of roughing up seemed to have occured, "And what happened out there to you!"

Ruby hesitated and looked over to Weiss who made a slashing gesture across her throat to indicate silence, then back to Yang, who had a wide eyed mother's gaze upon her younger sister. Ruby simply couldn't hold it in against such a concerned face, "I-wandered-around-vale-randomly-for-a-while-but-then-some-thugs-attacked-a-dust-shop-and-I-tried-to-fight-them-off-but-there-were-too-many-and-I-nearly-died-but-then-Weiss-saved-me-but-their-leader-got-away-and-we-had-to-run-from-the-cops-to-make-it-back-here-and-now-Weiss-and-I-are-gonna-try-and-bust-up-the-crime-ring-together!"

Weiss smacked herself in the face and shook her head into the face palm. Blake went wide eyed and dropped her book at the explanation. Yang's eyes went red, "You what?! Ruby I told you before not to go into fights where you're outnumbered on your own! Without someone to watch your back you can get killed! What were you thinking?!"

Ruby looked down at her feet, "Pretty much the same thing as always sis…"

Yang sighed and her eyes went back lilac, "You wanna be a huntress, yeah Ruby I know but you gotta think about yourself just as much as everybody else if you want to survive being one." Yang got up from her lowered posture and turned her more solid stare on Weiss, "As for you Ice Queen, I don't know exactly how you two of all pairs ended up making this deal, but now that I know about it I'm gonna be part of it to watch my little sister's back. So, what's the name of this gang we're going up against?"

"The Torchwick gang." Weiss replied, "From what we have been told they have been behind many robberies just like this."

"I've heard of them on the news." All eyes diverted over towards the bunks where Blake still lay having picked her book back up to read it again. The female shinobi closed it and addressed the party, "Apparently that gang started out petty but recently they've grown big and have been doing nothing but hitting dust shops. Supposedly they always escape before the police can arrive and neither they nor the huntsmen have ever been able to track them down. It's like they disappear into thin air."

Weiss perked up and cocked an eyebrow, "So you already know some things about them? Then perhaps we should ask you to team up with us as well."

Blake narrowed her eyes at the proposal, "Don't you think we should maybe just leave this up to the authorities, like the police and _actual _huntsmen."

Weiss scoffed, "We already know that the police and huntsmen haven't been able to track them down or they would have done it already."

Blake's eyes remained narrow, "And what makes you think a student could do any better than an experienced huntsman?"

Weiss stood proud, "I am more than just a student, I am a Schnee. Given that these robberies are all against dust shops my company may possess evidence the police don't, evidence _I _can access."

"Don't bother Ice Queen," Yang said, "Blake always just keeps to herself, it ain't like she'd rat us out or help us."

Blake narrowed her eyes at Yang but Ruby walked up to the kunoichi respectfully, "She's helped me before." Blake looked away from the Rose girl with a slight hint of embarrassment and Ruby bent over towards her more, "I can't force you to do anything and I know I bothered you before, but every time you were there it seemed like you were trying to look out for me in your own way. Please help us Blake."

The black clad girl hesitated for a while but eventually turned her head back to look a Ruby, "I… I'll help you. But only to make sure that the team I'm in doesn't get in trouble for this, ok?"

Ruby embraced Blake in a tight hug again, "Thank you so much Blake!"

"Let. Go. Ruby." Blake said as she struggled for air.

Ruby did as she was told and turned back to Weiss and Yang, "Alright that's one team down, let's go get the other."

"Hold on Rose," Weiss said, "Before we do that I want us to gather enough evidence to make certain we can convince them."

Ruby flopped her hand, "Pfft. Come on Weiss, you really think I couldn't convince Jaune? He's my best friend!"

* * *

"No way!" Jaune shouted drawing attention to himself and Ruby at their shared breakfast table. Noticing the eyes that were drawn to him Jaune lowered his voice to a whisper, "There is no way I'm going up against an army of dangerous criminals!"

The young rose herself kept pleading through the refusal in her own whisper, "Please Jaune I need your help, if you join up then so will the entire rest of your team!"

"There's no way I'd put myself or my team at risk like that Ruby." Jaune said with sternly crossed arms.

"Why not!? For god's sake Jaune I saw you run through a wall of fire!"

"Yeah! Because I had no other choice! It was either that or get killed by a pack of grimm! This is different Ruby, this is picking a fight with somebody who wouldn't attack you otherwise. You're talking about going on the offensive here."

"The torchwick gang might not attack us, Jaune, but they have attacked and hurt shop owners. Thanks to Weiss we might be the only ones able to get a lead on them and stop them from pulling this stuff off. It isn't like the police who only catch criminals after they've committed the crime. We can make the first move here!"

"It's not happening Ruby. This isn't what we students signed up for." Jaune got up from his seat with his tray, "I'm sorry Ruby but the answer is no."

The white knight walked away from the table he left ruby at and the red hood's shoulders slumped. Meanwhile the redhead who had been listening in on the conversation covertly also got up to follow Jaune. Pyrrha waited until there were not too many people in the same hallway as they were to move towards her leader. The warrior princess tapped Jaune on the shoulder, "Um, Jaune, have you got a minute?"

Jaune swiveled and saw Pyrrha, "Sure Pyrrha, what exactly do you need?"

Pyrrha looked around the area, "I overheard your conversation with Ruby. I think we should find somewhere less crowded to talk about it."

"You heard all that? Look Pyrrha, you don't need to worry about…" Pyrrha interrupted Jaune by grabbing him by the wrist and pulled him away from their spot in the corridor. The two made it up some stairs to a rooftop that looked out on the center of the school grounds. Pyrrha walked over to the edge while Jaune held back watching the girl walk a distance from him, "Pyrrha we don't need to be up here, like I was telling you I'm not going to get us involved…"

Pyrrha spun and put eyes on Jaune, "Why not?" The girl began walking towards the boy again, getting face to face, "Jaune you were amazing in the forest! I'm sure with you we could take on those criminals just like we took on the grimm!"

"I wasn't 'amazing' Pyrrha, everything I did there was just to get us out of a mess. Now you and Ruby are saying I should put us into one? When I lack so much skill compared to you guys?"

"I know you don't know some of the aura techniques Jaune, but…"

"It's not just the aura stuff Pyrrha! It's the lack of semblance! It's the fact that I only know the basics of swordsmanship!" Jaune sighed and sat down propping himself against the wall where the door he went through to get up there was, "I'm not really cut out for this school Pyrrha. It's only my grandpa's letter of recommendation that got me here."

Pyrrha kneeled down with a concerned look on her face, "How can you think that while everyone here looks up to you?"

Jaune raised his down looking head to look at Pyrrha, "Because it's true Pyrrha. Everyone in the Arc family would become a huntsman and pass that down to their son, then retire and go to work on the farm again. I wanted to do the same thing, go out and fight for the people and for the honor of the Arc name. But unfortunately for me my dad didn't. He rebelled against becoming a huntsman so he couldn't teach me anything. I had to rely on my grandfather but he was too old to spar with me anymore so I could only learn the basics from him. He gave me that letter and said the professors would know of him from back in the day and let me in just based off his word, so like the fool I am I made my way up here thinking they'd teach me the stuff I didn't know instead of expecting me to know it already." Jaune chuckled cynically, "You know you're the first person I told all that? Even my best friend here doesn't know…"

Pyrrha hesitated a bit before grabbing Jaune by the wrist again and standing both of them up. Pyrrha took Jaune over towards the edge where the view was and looked out on it, "Do you know why I came here Jaune?" The blonde boy shook his mop and Pyrrha explained, "It was because I was lonely. I was famous for being the best fighter in my age group in the Mistral tournaments, but all that did was put me on a pedestal where nobody would actually join me. I thought if I came here I'd meet more people who didn't recognize me, but when I arrived many people did. I made friends with Weiss because even though she knew about me she saw me as an equal." Pyrrha looked directly at Jaune then, "But you didn't know who I was at all. You just saw me for me." Pyrrha smiled and shrugged gently at the boy, "So now I guess we both know each other's secrets."

Jaune shook his head, "Look Pyrrha that's great and all but it doesn't change anything about why we're up here in the first place."

Pyrrha grabbed Jaune by the shoulder's, "Yes it does Jaune! I did it so that you would trust me when I say why we should do it."

"So why should we?"

Pyrrha took a serious look at Jaune, "Because team RWBY is going to go through with it with or without us, and if it is with us then they stand a much better chance. You told me that the only reason you did what you did in the forest was to help everyone make it out alive. Well Ruby and her team need that exact same help now." Pyrrha got a little closer to Jaune and started getting red cheeks and speaking in an awkward tone, "And um… if you are worried about yourself then just know that I… I'll always watch out for you and protect you just like you do for us…"

Pyrrha transitioned from holding Jaune's shoulders to embracing him in a full hug, which surprised Jaune, but the Arc calmed quickly. He patted Pyrrha on the back as she did it before gently pulling her back into holding her by her own shoulders, "Ok Pyrrha, you're right, I can't abandon those guys to fight on their own." Jaune turned back to the door and started walking away on his own before spinning back around towards Pyrrha who was seemingly absent minded and frozen in place, "Uh… Pyrrha… Aren't you gonna come to class with me?"

Pyrrha snapped back to awareness, "Oh! Of course! Let's get going!"

The two teammates left the roof of good views together, side by side.


	11. Volume 1 Chapter 11: The Hunt

On one of the free days eight students were arranged around a circular table in a quiet corner of an extensive library. On one side sat team RWBY, on the other, team JNPR. Both sat seriously silent, exchanging looks of steel. All save one. Nora glanced around at everybody and slowly raised her hand with a wide eyed look towards Jaune, "Jaune… What exactly are we all doing here?"

Jaune snapped his head towards the heart chested maiden, "I told you Nora! We're here to discuss…" Jaune looked around cautiously and held a hand up to the side of his mouth to cover his whisper, "to discuss the anti-Torchwick operation we're doing!"

"_Right_…" Nora said while tilting her head curiously to the side, "and _what _exactly is a torchwick?"

Ren sighed, "A gang leader Nora. One who has been at large against dust shops for a while now. Don't you pay attention to the news when we watch it?"

"No, _you _pay attention to it while I'm brushing your hair each morning Ren!" Nora snapped, "If I don't stay focused on the hair it'll just end up being tangled all day!" Ren issued another sigh along with a facepalm at the response.

"Well she ain't wrong…" Yang chimed in with a shrug.

"Could we all please focus back on the reason we've gathered here?" Blake interjected.

"Yes!" Ruby exclaimed while smacking the table, "Back to… Operation birthday cake!" The whole table stared inquisitively at Ruby who got awkward, "You know… because you blow out the candles on a birthday cake and the gang's name is Torchwick…" Ruby's head bowed, "Ok yeah it's lame…"

Nora bent excitedly closer to the table with a grin, "I love it!"

Jaune shrugged, "Operation birthday cake it is. So, what's the plan gonna be?"

Ruby nearly piped up to answer but was cut off prematurely by Weiss, "We need to find where to strike at the gang. I can access SDC records to see what shops have been hit and if there's a pattern to it which will allow us to predict their next target. As for what the rest of you do you can decide amongst yourselves."

Ren came into the discussion now, "A gang such as this typically has a hideout on the seedier side of town. The locals will likely have picked up rumors as to where it is. If we can interrogate them more efficiently than the authorities we can likely find out where the place that the gangsters lay low is."

"Sounds like a good plan to me." Jaune said in response to Ren's idea.

"Not to me." Blake chimed in with her eyes narrowed towards Ren, "I seriously doubt that people in the slums will cooperate with our questioning."

Ren shrugged, "Voluntary cooperation has never been necessary for Nora and I."

"Yep," Nora agreed with her right fist clenched in her left hand, "we're more than able to crack a few skulls if we have to."

Yang leaned forward in her chair with her arms supporting her torso upon the table to expose her cleavage and growled seductively, " Well damn. Looks like the quiet guy here has better game than I thought." Ren's bearing wasn't affected by the flirtation. Blake and Nora both aimed narrowed eyes at the golden maned girl who caught them both with a swivel of her widened ones and sat back up defensively, "What?"

"Ok!" Ruby affirmed excitedly, "So while Weiss gets the intel from the SDC the rest of us will get it from the bad side of Vale. Let's make it happen people!"

Ruby began getting up from her seat but Yang got an embarrassed grin on her face and interrupted her, "Uh, hang on there Rubes." Ruby looked over at Yang who rubbed behind her gold locks, "Why don't you just… help Weiss get the SDC files? You know… here… where it's safe…"

Ruby stomped a foot, "Are you really trying to keep me from being in the action?!"

Yang got up and moved towards Ruby while making a hand wave of refusal, "No Rubes, that's not what I'm doing at all…" Once Yang got close enough she forcibly turned Ruby around by the shoulder and got her mouth in close to her younger sister's ear to whisper, "Ok yes it is, but this is also a good opportunity for you to get closer to Weiss."

Ruby whispered back, "First of all, I don't need you to keep me totally out of a fight just to protect me, and second I already tried that and it ended up with her talking down to me and me taking a bite out of her ego!"

"That was before Rubes! Now that you're helping her with this SDC business she has a little more respect for you! Didn't you hear how she's calling you 'Rose' instead of 'Klutz' now?"

Ruby hemmed and hawed, "I don't know Yang…"

"I'm telling you you've got your foot in the door with her Ruby! Now all you gotta do is pry it open a little wider!"

Ruby growled a bit while tensed at the thought, but after a bit she caved in, "Fine Yang, I'll try it, but I doubt I'll actually get anywhere."

Yang slapped Ruby on the back, "Just be yourself Ruby, she'll come around eventually." Yang then spun back to the other team members with a grin, "Ok, so that's decided! Ruby will stay and supervise Weiss while the rest of us head down to the rundown district!"

Weiss narrowed her eyes at Yang, "What exactly did you two whisper about over there?"

Yang grinned, "Nothing much Ice Queen, just that I thought it'd be good to have a leader working each side to make sure we stay coordinated."

Weiss turned away in a poised chin up, "Very well then I suppose. It isn't as though having seven of you go down there is so much better than only having six that you can't sacrifice it."

Yang nudged Ruby in the shoulder with her elbow positively and the red hood sighed, "Ok teams let's start the investigation, we'll meet back here in the afternoon. If anything happens to you guys while you're out there and you need backup just call me or Weiss and we'll head out to your position."

Jaune stood from his chair and the others did the same after him. The white knight looked at Ruby assuredly, "Alright we'll head out. Good luck finding evidence you two."

The rest of the members, aside from Ruby and Weiss, began leaving and Ruby waved at them, "Bye guys! Oh, and good luck to you too!"

A casual wave back was cast by Jaune and Yang who didn't turn around or say anything, meanwhile Nora turned and wildly hopped around backwards at pace with the rest of the team while waving back, "Bye Ruby! You and Weiss have a nice time at the computer screen!"

Weiss narrowed her eyes at Nora and gave a quick grunt of disgust, then turned to Ruby who was still waving goodbye. Weiss quickly jerked Ruby's hand out of the air and put it down to her side, "Would you stop that? We might as well be on our way right now too."

Ruby gave Weiss an inquisitive look, "On our way where?"

Weiss put her hands on her hips, "Well it is not as though we should be doing this in the library. After all what if a school official walks by and notices us looking into dust shop robberies while one was recently thwarted? Do you want to give yourself up as some unlicensed vigilante and get punished for it?"

"Well no…" Ruby said obviously.

"Good, then come along so we can get this over with." Weiss turned swiftly and walked gracefully towards the door. Ruby broke out of some hesitation and caught up with the heiress as they made their way off of school grounds.

* * *

"Where exactly are we going Weiss?" Ruby asked as the two girls walked through Vale in more casual attire than their usual combat gear.

Weiss answered, "Well we can't use the school stations and we don't know anyone whose personal station could be used so we are making our way to the Vale comm tower."

"Wow really?" Ruby said, genuinely excited, "I heard about that place while I was on Patch but we never paid a visit. It's supposed to be one of the best looking buildings in Vale."

Weiss put up a finger educationally, "It is also one of the most crowded public communications stations. We will be well hidden among that mass of people."

The two made their way onto the courtyard that surrounded the tower, a large tiled sidewalk laden area with various benches and fountains within it. Essentially it was a public park. Many people could be seen walking with their loved ones or pets, taking pictures of themselves, or running and biking through as a form of exercise. At the very center of activities was a white, frame-like tower made of four pillars which sloped as they rose up making the structure narrower at the top. Between the pillars was a matrix of beams that crossed within them and at the top was the obvious communication array housed within a white, spherical object. At the bottom of the four pillars was a round building with sets of doors placed all around it.

Weiss and Ruby walked through a set of doors and down a short hallway that led to a large room with many terminals, each housed inside of a quite enclosed cubicle. Ruby and Weiss made their way to one of the free ones and sat down in front of it. Ruby looked over towards Weiss, "Alright Weiss, let's see how you're gonna access these records."

Weiss grabbed the white purse at her side and rummaged around in it for a bit before pulling out a white lanyard patterned with light blue snowflakes and attached to a card with her photograph on it. Weiss held the card in front of Ruby to let her see it, "An SDC ID card. With this I can access all of our company data from anywhere in the world."

"Got that high of a clearance in the company huh?" Ruby said in a casual yet still slightly wonderous tone.

"I am the heiress after all. It is better I learn everything about it before I take over than after." Weiss placed the card in a slot on the keyboard and the screen immediately logged into a desktop displaying the background of a Schnee symbol.

The heiress tapped away at the keyboard apparently logging on to the Schnee network while Ruby held her bored face in her hands as she sat on the sidelines. The red hood gave a slight turn towards Weiss and gave off a curious vibe, "So… if you're gonna go run a company is it just gonna be after you retire from all the huntress work or when the person you inherit it from retires as CEO or what?"

Weiss kept typing without looking at Ruby, "I will not run it until my father retires but I will go work for it right after I graduate."

Ruby perked up sceptically, "Right after you get the license? So you aren't even going to spend any time actually doing huntress work outside of school?"

"The huntsman training is merely a Schnee family tradition that began due to our founder's origin as a huntsman. Its only purpose is to instill strength, courage, and discipline in the heir. It is expected of us to return directly afterwards to work for the family again."

"Wow, sure sounds like a boring life for somebody good at fighting. Especially someone as good as you."

Weiss stopped typing for a second and looked at Ruby to issue a defensive response, "We do need to fight sometimes, just only on behalf of the SDC and not in any way that puts us at too much risk."

"So just in self defense basically." Ruby said flatly.

Weiss sighed and turned back towards the computer to continue her research, "Yes… Basically that…"

Ruby leaned back in her chair with her hands behind her head, "I doubt that happens much to you guys, living in your ivory tower."

Weiss faced Ruby again but this time angrily and let out a quiet but extremely grim tone, "Our employees don't live in that tower with us Rose and you have already seen what happens to them. And when we Schnee's venture out of it, we become targets ourselves." Weiss' voice began to wobble a bit, "That's how my mother and brother were..."

Weiss felt slight moisture welling up in her eyes and immediately turned away to blink them back and harden herself. Ruby shifted into a guilty look as she realized what she'd accidentally brought up, "Weiss… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

Weiss interrupted sternly while typing, "It's fine. You didn't know." the heiress turned to fully face Ruby, "But know this, I will never forgive anyone who attacks my family or our business. _That _is why I am hunting Torchwick."

Ruby sat silent for a bit and Weiss got back to work. The red hood simply couldn't let the silence stand though so she decided to even the exchange, "Uh… You know Weiss, my mom's not around anymore either." Weiss paused a bit in typing but immediately got back to it. Ruby didn't mind that and continued, "I was too young to remember when it happened that well but my dad and my uncle told me a lot of stories about her. She was a huntress who helped lots of people out just like the heroes in the fairy tales. So I guess that's the reason _I'm _doing this, because if she was here she'd try to help you just like I am. Well, probably better than I am..."

Weiss' face went slightly down as she listened to Ruby talk about her mother but eventually something perked her up in her work, "Actually Rose, if you want to help me you can do so right now."

"Huh?" Ruby replied to Weiss who turned her head to look at the red hood.

"Look up the list of shops that have been robbed by the gang on your scroll."

"Um… ok?" Ruby brought out her scroll and tapped at the browser to find the list of hit shops, "Ok, found it!"

"Are any of those shops not under the SDC?" Weiss asked.

Ruby looked back at the list then back at Weiss curiously, "No… None of these are independent or under a different company…"

"I thought as much, come look at this." Weiss slid the holographic screen in Ruby's direction and the red hood scooted her chair forward to get a better look at it. Weiss pointed at a map showing the location of all the SDC dust shops with the ones that had been hit marked red while the unrobbed ones were blue, "See this Rose? Every one of these shops was hit only one or two days after getting their security update."

"Wait? You mean Torchwick has been deliberately targeting the most up to date security systems?"

"No Rose. I'm saying he must have someone within SDC security who is hacking the systems instead of upgrading them."

"Do we know when the next SDC place is getting a security update?"

Weiss exhaled frustratedly at the screen, "That's the problem, they usually update more than two around the same time and sometimes Roman waits two days after the update rather than one. With only two teams there is little chance we could stake out all the possible locations."

"Hmmm."' Ruby hummed thoughtfully, "Download that security schedule onto your scroll anyway. It might be that JNPR, Yang, and Blake can find something to tip us off to the next robbery."

Weiss did as Ruby said, taking her scroll out and attaching it to another point on the board. Weiss downloaded the intel they needed and pulled the scroll out the port, shutting down the terminal. Weiss held up the scroll in front of Ruby, "We have the information now. Come on, let's head back to the school and wait on the others."

Ruby nodded and the two got up and walked out of the tower together.

* * *

Downtown Vale was decayed. Every pothole and crack in the sidewalk was complemented by broken and boarded up windows and barbed wire atop fences. The six teens walking down the street together stuck out like a sore thumb even in their casual attire. The blue jeans and black hoodie wearing farm boy went up to the verdant vested wu xia and scoped out the area in a suspicious manner before speaking quietly to him, "Ok Ren, you seem to know your way around this stuff so we'll follow your lead. What exactly is the plan here?"

"We need leads on the Torchwick gang," The jade dragon answered just loud enough for the whole group to hear but not so loud outsiders overheard, "and likely leads on where to find those leads. We'll start from the absolute bottom and work our way up."

"The hobos, the street urchins, anybody who wants to put some food in their mouths for the day." the black bloused and bowed Blake added.

"Sounds like you know your way round the street too." Yang directed towards the ninja. Blake merely shrugged. Yang narrowed her pair of lilac eyes a bit, "What's up with you anyway? You act all alone in a corner all the time but you're helping us out now."

"I told you I'm doing this to stay low. You all were going to do it with or without me and if my team gets caught I'd be caught up in it, no matter whether I helped or not. I'm only doing this to make sure we stay hidden." Blake answered flatly, not even bothering to face the girl wearing the brown leather jacket with yellow racing stripes down the sleeves.

"Really? Cause it looked to me like you let my little sister talk you into it _after _you'd already helped her twice at the start of the school. Seems like the girl who doesn't talk to anybody has a soft spot for the youngest girl in the group." Blake stayed silent. Yang growled a bit at the kunoichi, "Fine. Stay that way."

Yang began to huff ahead of Blake but she heard the shinobi's voice come from behind her, "Your sister is naive." Yang looked back over her shoulder at the still flatly speaking girl, "I looked out for her the same way I would reflexively look out for some kid. It was all just instincts, not voluntary."

Yang shook her head dismissively and kept stomping forward while mumbling to herself, "Damn. And here I thought the Ice Queen was cold."

A redheaded girl in a black sukeban with a pink tie at the front of the pack began bouncing up and down in excitement beside the jade dragon and pointing off in a direction, "Ooh! Ooh! Ren! Look over there! I think that's somebody we can squeeze the rumors out of!"

The entire pack looked towards where the girl pointed and saw a bum with a beard sitting in the alley across the street with a bottle slowly slipping out of his sleep limp hand. Ren nodded and the group crossed the non busy street over towards the alley. Ren and Nora went in while the others stood guard at the entrance. Ren nodded towards the slumbering wino while looking at Nora, "Wake him up."

Nora cracked her knuckles and grinned, letting the words come through her gritted teeth, "My pleasure!" The redhead grabbed the street sleeper up by his coat and started shaking him, "Rise and shine bottle brain!"

The box dweller awoke startled, "Aaah! Please don't hit me! Please! I didn't do anything! I swear!"

Ren put up a hand in a calming gesture, "We won't harm you, we just need to know where we can find Torchwick's hideout."

"The gang?" The hobo responded, "I-I don't know anything about them! Just let me go, please!"

"Do you know someone who does know something?" Ren asked with his eyes slightly steeled.

"I-I don't…" The homeless man looked down at the girl holding him braced up against the wall and then back towards the boy directing her nervously and gulped, "Shay D. Men! The rival gang! They used to be in a turf war with the Torchy boys til those guys grew bigger and pushed em out of their spot! They got beat bad but there's still some over on F street by the chop shops, if anybody knows the hideout of the black suits it's them."

Ren nodded at the man and then looked to Nora, "Put him down."

Nora did so and Ren began walking back out of the alley the way he came in. The bum looked shocked at the boy's back, "Wait! You ain't seriously gonna try to get them to spill something are you? That gang might be smaller but they still outnumber you guys way more!"

Ren didn't bother looking back at the street drunk, "My friend and I have faced more with less. We should be fine"

The six walked away from the alley entrance and the homeless man just stood there mouth agape. Pyrrha got a concerned look on her face as they walked and went over to Ren, "Uh… Don't you think that was a little harsh Ren?"

Ren merely shrugged, "The homeless will give information up for either money or threats. I merely thought it would be better to save our money."

Pyrrha turned towards the mop headed farm boy, "Are you ok with this Jaune?"

Jaune shrugged too, "Hey, like I said, Ren's the expert here. Besides it ain't like we actually hurt the guy."

"I wouldn't have minded putting in a little more force if we needed to anyway." Said the golden mane as she held her right fist with her left hand.

"You may have an opportunity for that Yang." Ren said seriously.

"Yeah, Ren's right." Nora added with a chirp, "A bunch of gangsters isn't _nearly _as easy to crack as one homeless dude."

"A fight? But me and Pyrrha aren't armored up!" Jaune cried.

Pyrrha put her hand on Jaune's shoulder, "It should be ok, you still brought your sword and shield after all."

"Yeah, what little good that'll do me…" Jaune complained.

Yang witnessed the shoulder pat from behind and got a bit of a suspicious look in her eyes. She whispered at Blake through the corner of her mouth, "Hey watch the rear on your own wouldja? I gotta look into something about the blonde boy." Blake looked at Yang inquisitively as the golden mane sidled up to Jaune and grabbed him by the shoulder. Yang grinned at the farm boy "So Jauney boy, you got any girls you're into at school?"

Pyrrha's face turned red and yang narrowed her eyes at it above her maintained grin. Jaune was surprised but answered anyway, "Uh… I mean all of you look really good but I haven't really found anybody who I think would like me like that yet."

Pyrrha's face went redder and the golden mane continued, "Really? Because I know you and Rubes hang out all the time, and you did give the girl who loves fairytales some gentlemanly help like a prince from one of her stories would…"

"Ruby?" Jaune replied confused, "I mean yeah we hang out and all but not like that."

"You sure about that? A big, strong, handsome guy coming to help out a young awkward girl, charging through fire like a legend, going now to fight off some bandits. I bet you anything she can't get enough of you and it's just that neither of you realize it yet."

Jaune's face now went a bit red and Pyrrha forcefully chimed in, "I think maybe it's just that Jaune finds himself too old for Ruby."

Yang shrugged at the redhead, "Two years difference isn't that big a deal. Actually, I'd say it gives her an advantage over some _other girls._"

Yang's emphasis on the last words made something click in Pyrrha's head and the warrior princess in her light brown coat and red scarf narrowed her eyes a bit at the golden mane, "Yes, well… perhaps some other girl is someone Jaune would see likes him more clearly."

Yang laughed out loud and slapped Jaune's back, "Ha! I doubt it princess! Old Jauney boy here might be able to charge through fire but he definitely can't tell when some girl is on fire for him!"

Pyrrha went red at Yang's obvious implication directed at her. "Hey!" Jaune came back, "It ain't like it's my fault you women are so complicated!"

Yang patted Jaune on the back more gently, "Don't worry man, you'll for sure get it one day."

Ren raised a hand in a halt gesture as they walked and the group skidded to a stop. Jaune got up alongside him and whispered, "What's up man?" Ren pointed up and Jaune followed the line of the jade dragon's finger to the street sign reading F Street on it, "So we're here…" Jaune turned towards the rest of the team, "Ok guys, we need to be careful here. This is supposedly gang turf, best plan is to try and corner one of them alone."

Blake piped up, "I'll find one on his own and stalk him, once he's in a good ambush spot I'll alert all the rest of you on scroll to come box him in at my location."

Jaune nodded at Blake then looked back over to Ren, "Think you could accompany her? After all I don't want anybody going solo here." Ren nodded back and got alongside Blake. Jaune's gaze steeled, "Alright, you two get going and watch each other's backs while you watch the target's. We'll be right around the corner when the alert goes off." Blake and Ren both nodded and the two of them turned slightly and acrobatically made their way up buildings by springing between two walls that formed a narrow alley near them. Jaune observed the two scouts making their way up the walls without even making a sound with wide eyes, "Damn… I gotta learn how to do that…"

Ren and Blake landed crouched on the rooftop and snuck far away enough from the edges that they did not silhouette themselves against the sky but close enough that they had good sight over them. Blake hand gestured a direction at Ren and he nodded, following the girl as she hopped over to another roof. The two made their way down F street in this manner, keeping an eye out for potential prey. Eventually they came within view of the garage they knew to be the chop shop from across the street, the ingoing vehicles and sound of powertools making that more than clear. Around this illegal business the two spied many of the so called Shay D. Men milling about, some chatting each other up while having a smoke, some engaging in the consumption of beer.

Ren looked at the surroundings until he perked up from having found something. Ren pointed and Blake's eyes went to a mass of cables that spanned the street in a more shadowy area where none of the shades were looking. Blake turned her head back to Ren and nodded and the two used the makeshift bridge to get closer to their potential victims. They made it across and waited perched on a nearby roof until the perfect target appeared. One of the gangsters in the drinking group walked away from them into the alley near the two stealth recon students.

The two allowed the man to make his way further into the alleyway towards the side of a dumpster before dropping down behind him without making a sound. The man turned towards one of the walls next to the dumpster and in a wobbling stand unzipped his trousers, only to be spun around by Blake, pushed up against the wall he had intended to urinate on and held with a ninjato at his throat and a hand over his mouth. The goon heard a cocking sound to the side and looked out the corner of his eyes towards Ren. The jade dragon stood to the goon's right with a machine pistol pressed to the temple of his head, its barrel bearing Ren's liu ye dao blade which had folded in half to reveal that the forte was also a suppressor. Ren whispered, "When we release your mouth don't scream. Don't even speak. We are going to ask you some questions. If you know the answer you will tell us at a low volume or you'll get to see that your aura's threshold won't hold out against more than one of my rounds at point blank range, _if _it holds out against even one, do you understand?"

The thug nodded quickly and Ren in turn nodded towards Blake, who released her hand from over their target's mouth without moving the ninjato. The gangster gulped and breathed heavy, clearly intimidated and whispered, "Wh-who are you? What do you want?"

"Tell us where the Torchwick gang is headquartered." Ren said low and flat.

"Torchwick?! What do you want with them?"

Ren pressed the suppressed machine pistol into the side of the thug's head harder while maintaining his stoic voice, "Tell us where their main hideout is or we will find someone who will."

"Aagh! Okay! Okay... I'll tell you guys…" The goon said in a heavily calming breath pattern.

All of a sudden a beeping sound was heard from a low angle. Ren looked down to see a scroll in the goon's hand flashing a red light as it made the beep, "Distress signal!"

Ren shifted the pistol to shoot the scroll in the goon's hand, destroying it. The gangster laughed a bit but Blake quickly pommeled him in the face with her ninjato, knocking him out. But it was too late. From down both sides of the alley there swarmed in groups of thugs. Ren didn't miss a beat, he drew his second stormflower and unleashed a barrage of bullets at the mass of armed thugs on his side, many of whom instantly fell to it and the remainder of which took cover at the corners before peeking out to take shots with their own guns. Blake and Ren took cover behind the dumpster, but the fire came close to them regardless. Ren looked at Blake and shouted, "Hold onto me!"

Blake nodded and did as she was told and Ren released a cloud of aura based mist that filled the jade dragon didn't leave his smoke bomb of a semblance from either side, but rather from the top, leaping out with Blake hanging onto him and making his way atop the chop shop. The refuge they gained didn't last long, from a doorway that protruded from the flat top of the building there came out even more criminals, the first of whom was downed by gunfire from the pistol portion of Blake's ninjato, but the rest of whom took cover in the door and began their fire. Rather than taking cover this time Blake charged at the doorway, luring away shots with her clones as she closed in. Once in range Blake slashed upwards with her ninjato, slicing deep into the gun wielding arm of one of the shieldless goons who fell down the stairway inside in pain. Blake immediately followed through with a downward stroke that slashed shallowly across the other thug's chest. Blake gestured towards Ren to follow her and the jade dragon did. The two of them flew down the stairwell quickly, leaping over the landing where the slashed, writhing goons had ended up.

The two scouts busted through a door that led to a hallway. There were goons approaching from each side again but this time they had already gotten close before the wu xia and kunoichi had busted through. The groups flinched backwards and the recon warriors took advantage of the split second opening, charging each side individually and performing a dance of slashes through them which was totally undefended against. It was Ren's turn to perform the follow gesture and Blake went along with it, sprinting down towards his side of the hall. The pair turned a corner down that way which led to a door at the hall's end. The scouts busted down the door once more and glimpsed that they were in the rear corner of the garage of partially disassembled vehicles behind which lay gun wielders using them as cover.

"Down!" Blake shouted, pushing Ren behind cover while leaving up a duplicate image of the two of them which drew the barrage of gunfire meant for the real scouts. Ren and Blake were now pinned down, their position in the corner kept them boxed in from all sides and they could barely move even within cover. Blake looked over towards Ren, "We need a way out!"

"Already on it." Ren said, displaying his own scroll which was blinking red just as the interrogation victim's had.

Just as the scroll was shown Blake heard an explosion sound within the shop, ringing her ears as though she'd been inside of a gigantic bell. The firing ceased and Blake looked out of her cover to see four people arranged at the garage doors leading into the work area. Nora held her weapon in its grenade launcher mode at the hip and fired yet another round at a nearby cluster of thugs, making another overly loud explosion and destroying the vehicle parts arranged there. Nora laughed like a maniac and Jaune ran up and shook her by the shoulder, "That's enough Nora, they're broken up! Let's take them one by one now!" Nora comedically saluted the white knight with a grin and switched to her hammer mode, hopping into melee with the first thug she found. As the two redheads and the golden mane handled mopping up the goons Jaune walked over towards Ren and Blake, "We got your distress signal and heard the gunshots, sorry we didn't make it in quick but at least you guys are safe now."

Ren pointed behind Jaune at the mop up operation taking place, "You may want to ensure they leave one of them conscious."

Jaune turned around and caught sight of the thug Yang held up with one arm and was about to punch with the other. He shouted out at the other blonde, "Yang, leave that one awake!"

Yang looked over towards Jaune with her wolf grin, "Are ya sure bout that? He looks _real _punchable!"

"Yes Yang, I'm sure." Jaune said in an exasperated tone. Yang shrugged and tossed the guy towards the center of the workshop. The goon began struggling to his feet but as he was casually surrounded by the six students he merely gave up and flopped back down onto his rear. Jaune squatted in front of the thug who was being held at gunpoint by the other five and looked him straight in the eyes, "Look here mister gangster, I'm not exactly experienced with you guys but I have had a long day today what with Yang badgering me about girls and you guys trying to shoot up these two." Jaune gestured towards the jade dragon and black ninja, " So I'd really appreciate it if you'd do me a favor and tell me where Mister Torchwick's gang is holed up."

The thug looked around at the various gun barrels and then back to Jaune, "They're at Junior's!"

"Junior's?" The knight queried.

"A nightclub run by Junior, or well, Hei Xiong, but Junior's what everybody calls him. He's Torchwick's front man."

"You're telling me Torchwick hides in a crowded nightclub where he could get spotted?"

"There's loads of rooms in the back of that place where only the non snitch customers go, that's always where the Torchy boys hang out!"

"Alright then, where exactly is this place?"

The club on O street! Just walk down 29 until you get to O and look for the building lit up bright red! You can't miss it!"

Jaune breathed a sigh of relief and smiled warmly at the Shay D. Man, "Thank you so much." The white knight then immediately let loose a right hook on the gangster leaving him limp on the ground. Jaune then stood up, dusted himself off, and breathed out in relief once more, "Not gonna lie Yang, you weren't wrong about the punchable thing." Jaune then began walking back out the garage doors as the others stood where they were watching him with wide eyes. The paladin turned back around towards the stationary team, "Well? Are y'all coming with me or not?"

The others snapped out of the surprise and walked up alongside Jaune as they made their way out of the building and back onto the mean streets of Vale.


	12. Volume 1 Chapter 12: The Club Scene

"A nightclub?" Asked the one girl wearing white among the eight students lounged around in a dormitory room.

"Yep. One supposedly run by a Hei 'Junior' Xiong, though that's just the front man for Torchwick's base." Answered the farm boy to the ice queen, "At least that's what the Shay D. Man gave up anyway. We walked by it and scoped out the front for a little bit but we didn't see any Torchwick goons going in or out. That said they supposedly hang out in the back so it wouldn't surprise me if they go in and out back there too."

Weiss cocked an eyebrow at the reconnaissance team leader, "And _why_ precisely could you not simply observe the back exits to confirm this?"

"Oh, I don't know Ice Queen, maybe 'cause a bunch of teens walking down the street like normal ain't gonna set off an alarm like sending a couple of scouts to sneak around an alleyway apparently does! I mean do you _want _Torchwick to go even further underground?" The golden mane snapped back.

"To play devil's advocate for us 'scouts,' it wasn't the sneaking that set off the alarm at the chop shop but rather the attempted interrogation." Retorted the jade dragon.

"Either way I didn't wanna risk it." Jaune cut in, "Especially since word might have gotten around about the hit on the chop shop and that might have put the Torchwicks on higher alert."

Weiss crossed her arms, "I still do not like needing to rely on such assumptions."

"Yeah, well, it's a more accurate assumption than we could make with what we found." The red hood said.

"What did you guys come up with anyway?" Jaune asked.

Ruby leaned back in her seat with an exasperated sigh, "A bunch of SDC records with the shops' schedules and the dates they got hit. All we could figure out from it is that Torchwick probably has a guy in the SDC who hacks the security for him when he comes in to do updates, but he doesn't always hit them immediately after the hack and too many shops get updated around the same time for us to know which is the next one on the hit list."

"Any way we could question the security guys?" Jaune asked.

"More like there is no reason to do so." Weiss responded, "All those workers tend to do is plug in their scrolls to run the update program loaded onto them. I doubt any of them are the actual hacker. More than likely that individual merely installed a back door for themselves into the update files. They may not even work at the security branch at all."

Ren shrugged, "It would be easier to not get caught that way."

Jaune put his hand to his chin, "So the club really is our only potential option as a target."

"Great!" Nora said with a gritty grin and a palmed fist, "Then let's bust in there and grab Torchwick's ass!"

Blake gave a rough sigh, "Are you kidding? We can't just break down the front door."

"Why not?" The red headed bombshell inquired with a pout.

"Given our knowledge of the Torchwick gang's size a direct attack might very well be suicidal." Ren answered, "Not to mention that a master thief like Roman likely has an escape route planned out for himself in just such a scenario."

"So… What exactly are we supposed to do?" Ruby asked.

"Infiltrate." Blake said curtly.

A huge gasp went up from the short redhead beside Ren, "Oh! My god! Yes!" Nora turned to Ren and began shaking him by the shoulders, "Ren, we are finally gonna get to go clubbing tonight!"

Ren facepalmed and sighed, "An infiltration is not a party Nora."

"Well we still gotta dress up like it is and act like it is so it might as well be!" Nora snapped back.

Yang shrugged, "She's got a point."

Nora narrowed her eyes at Yang and nodded, "You're alright Xiao Long."

Yang gave a quick up tilt of her chin back. Weiss rolled her eyes, "No. She's not, and neither are you Valkyrie." Nora recoiled with the fingertips of her right hand to her chest and Weiss gave a cocked eyebrow to her in return, "We cannot simply dress up and act to infiltrate that club. First of all, we are all still underage," Weiss then pointed a thumb at Ruby beside her, "_especially _Rose here, who, as my second point and along with me, is already known to Torchwick."

Ren chimed in, "I can at least handle adjusting our scroll IDs to get past that first hurdle."

Pyrrha's face grew concerned, "Um… Ren… If you don't mind me asking, how exactly do you know how to do that?"

"I'd actually prefer not to ans…" Ren started.

Nora immediately leapt in front of the jade dragon into Pyrrha's line of sight, "We used to work as underaged, unlicensed huntsmen!" A slapping sound and a sigh could be heard from behind Nora. Nora continued with her elbow rested on Pyrrha's shoulder, "I was the muscle and Ren was the brain! I'd crack the skulls and he'd suck the stuff we needed to know out of them!" Nora then jumped back over to Ren and embraced him tightly, "My adorable best friend here used to make us fake IDs to get us past the bureaucrats and guardsmen all the time!"

"Yes, well," Ren said as he pried Nora's arms off, "in any case I can likely grant us access." Ren then looked over at Weiss and Ruby, "Though you two are probably better off staying out of Torchwick's surveillance. Even if he thinks you don't realize the club is his he may be unwilling to take any chances if he sees you there on camera." Ren then looked at Pyrrha who got a bit surprised, "You aren't exactly unknown either Pyrrha, it might be that you draw too much attention to us as well."

Jaune perked up from his pensive pose, "That distraction is actually exactly what we need!" Jaune looked to Pyrrha, "If you draw eyes to the front then we could have Ren and Blake sneak through the back."

"Sorry Jauney boy but sneaking around back rooms ain't like sneaking around back alleys." Yang interrupted, "You gotta act instead of tiptoe. I don't think a guy like Ren can pull it off," Yang looked over at the black clad girl appraisingly, "Blake might could though."

"I guess we'll just send Blake then?" Ruby said.

Jaune shook his head, "Nobody goes anywhere without someone backing them up."

"Just send me in with her!" Yang said with a thumb pointed at herself.

"You?" Blake asked with a cocked brow.

"Yeah me!" Yang answered with hands on her hips. The golden mane struck a confident pose, "It'll be perfect, you'll play the eye rolling bitch and I'll play the flirty ditz!"

Ruby snorted, "What do you mean you'll _play _the flirty ditz? Aren't you always like that?"

Yang growled a bit at the red hood but heard a slight snicker from behind her. She turned to see Blake sitting completely expressionless and narrowed her eyes at the kunoichi. Yang turned again slowly and addressed the entire group, "Look, I can talk our way through the back rooms, just put me with Blake and we'll snag this guy."

Jaune hummed ponderously and Pyrrha looked concernedly at him, "Jaune, are you really considering this?"

"It's basically the only option we have Pyrrha." Jaune replied, "Ruby and Weiss can't even come in so we need to post them as escape route guards. Ren and Nora are experienced out in the wild and on the street but apparently not on the dance floor so we'll just use them as the internal backup. You and I need to make a diversion up front. Yang seems to know the club scene and Blake at least has a mystery vibe going. Those two are the best bet we have on infiltrating the back rooms."

Ruby stood up and addressed the entire group, "I agree. This is the only way we can get close enough to Torchwick to drag him out."

"See princess?" Yang said to Pyrrha, "We got both leaders on board. Now are you gonna hop on too or not?"

"I… I suppose…" Pyrrha gave in, "So long as Jaune thinks it's the best option I can't really oppose it."

Yang went up to the warrior princess and clasped her by the shoulder with a fox like grin, "Well then princess, it looks like we're gonna have ourselves a night out after all!" Yang then turned around and gave the entire group once overs with her hand to her chin, "But before we do that we are gonna _have _to go shopping."

* * *

Ruby and Weiss sat nested in their combat gear on a rooftop which overlooked an entire nightclub lit up by dancing red lights. From their vantage point Ruby observed both the front and rear entrance and exit guarded by large bouncers through the scope of her rifle which was set up on the bipod made from its scythe head. At the front Ruby spied six familiar teens lined up to enter the establishment. Ruby brought her head up to stop looking through the scope and sighed, "Man I wish I could go in with those guys…"

Weiss scoffed while sticking to her own observation via binoculars, "Why on remnant would you want to enter a nightclub on the seedy side of town Rose? It is probably a run down mess in there."

"I don't mean I wanna party in there Ice Queen!" Ruby snapped, "I just wish I could go in there and help em snatch Roman."

"Well you never know Rose. It may be that your hotblooded sister and the one always in the corner with her books will let him slip out of their grasp and we shall be forced to intercept him on his escape route."

"Nah…" Ruby said in disappointment, "If Yang gets a hold of him he's gonna be pretty much locked in her grip. All we're probably gonna do tonight is sit on this dumb roof."

Weiss shook her head and pressed her ear, "Infil team, this is overwatch team, what is your status? Over."

Jaune, who was outfitted in a collared white shirt beneath an open black blazer over top of some blue slacks pressed his own ear and whispered, "Still good overwatch, they don't seem to be checking for concealed carry so we should be able to get in. Over."

"Solid copy infil. Out." Jaune heard over the hidden headset.

"Knowing this side of town I bet everybody they let in is packing." Yang said in her bright yellow dress that revealed much of her figure while being embroidered with sparkling orange flames.

"More like the guards themselves are packing so much they just don't care." Blake added in a much more modest black dress with a single slit up the left and an open violet jacket atop it.

"Speaking of which do you really think you can fight without Magnhild Nora?" Jaune asked the girl in the pink sequined dress with a heart cut out of it to show cleavage.

"What are you talking about Jaune?" Nora hitched up the right side of her attire to show a folded up silver block strapped to her thigh to the knight, "Magnhild's right here. I just had to take the cylinder out to make it fit but I can still use it, just with no grenades."

Ren grabbed the hem of Nora's dress and yanked it down, "Please don't show it like that Nora."

Yang put an elbow on Ren's shoulder and grinned with bedroom eyes, "What's the matter quiet guy? Don't want your buddy baiting in some competition?"

Ren merely got stuck in a vocalized pause but Nora jammed herself between the two and pushed both away from each other, "Ren and I aren't together like that!" Nora snapped, then paused and began an awkward laugh with a blushing face, "He just wanted to make sure I didn't tip anybody off to Magnhild!" Nora then turned to the boy in the green button up shirt over white slacks with her teeth gritted in a grin, "Right Ren?"

Ren broke out of his trance with a cough, "Yes."

Yang put up her hands in mocking surrender, "Alright, whatever you guys say."

The group neared the doors and the girl in the long red dress that covered her arms and neck while she wore a bronze chain around the waist looked around concerned. Pyrrha whispered towards Ren, "Are you sure these IDs are going to work?"

Ren shrugged, "I haven't failed at it before, but who knows? They might use some sort of confirmation that I am not familiar with."

"_Relax _Pyrrha." Nora chimed in, "Ren's never gotten us caught unlicensed yet, I'm sure he can fool some dumb bouncers just as well as the top beurocrats back in Vacuo."

The teams got to the top of the steps up to the club and the bouncer gave them a hard look over, "ID?"

Jaune swept his arms out in front of Pyrrha who blushed at the gesture, "Ladies first."

Pyrrha walked up gracefully as she could muster and showed the guard the ID on her scroll. The huge man simply looked it over without even scanning it and made a thumb directional point into the club, "You're good."

The warrior princess was able to relax a bit and walked in. Behind her followed Yang who winked at Jaune's move as well as Blake, Nora and Ren. Jaune then brought up the rear and they all got into the club without any problems. The group looked over the landscape of the establishment with a bit of awe. The club was actually rather brightly lit in this main portion, most of which was taken up by a white dance floor in the center which was surrounded by black and red seating and flanked on the left by a DJ booth and the right by a bar. In the back was the obvious entrance to the back rooms which was itself flanked not by the expected huge men, but rather by two petit and ornately dressed women.

Jaune stepped out in front of the group that was impressed by the unexpectedly well put together dance hall, "Alright guys, we should probably hang around for a little while before we kick off the plan so we seem normal."

"Let's go to the bar Ren!" Nora said exuberantly and dragged the boy by his arm over to the area she had called for their team.

"Blake and I will hang out near the back rooms so we can slip in quick when you set off the distraction for those two bouncer chicks." Yang said and the two infiltration girls both headed over to that area together.

Pyrrha was left alone with Jaune and she immediately got awkward, "So, uh… Where do you think we should go... hang out? Of course anywhere you decide is fine by me! You _are _the leader after all."

Jaune put a hand to his chin, "Well we need to be somewhere where we can draw attention so I guess we should go on the dance floor and act like we're dancing together."

Pyrrha's face began matching her dress and she began breathing heavily and stammering, "W-well, I-If you think that's the only way to accomplish the mission then of course we have to do it."

"Well we could always think of something else if you don't think this is…"

"I do think this is the right plan!" Pyrrha burst out right as she grabbed Jaune by the hand and began dragging him, "Come on! Let's go dancing!"

Ren and Nora dropped down on a couple of barstools right in front of a large, broad shouldered man who turned to face them while polishing a glass, "Well you two look new around here! So, what can I get you?"

Nora hit one of her elbows down hard on the bar and stuck two fingers up on the hand attached to that arm, "Two strawberry sunrises on the rocks, hold the umbrellas."

Ren gently tipped Nora's arm down until it lay flat on the bar, "I'll just take water."

"Comin right up!" The huge bearded bartender immediately began filling some glasses with various elements of Nora's requested concoction, "So I ain't seen you two round here before, where you from if I might ask?"

"Actually I'd rather not…" Ren started.

"We're Vacuans!" Nora ended, "Or, well, Ren's the 'native' Vacuan. I'm from a Mantle immigrant family, but I don't even remember Mantle at all since we came over to the empire when I was tiny!"

Ren facepalmed but the barkeep just continued, "Well what a coincidence, my dad was an immigrant from Vacuo here! Old man Hei Xiong, but everyone used to just call him 'Senior.'"

Nora skewed an eyebrow towards the barkeep, "Wait… Are you Junior?!"

The big barkeep made a thumb point towards his chest, "Yep! The younger Hei Xiong that everybody just calls Junior!"

Ren now skewed his own brow, "You own this place don't you? What are you doing serving drinks?"

Junior rubbed the back of his head embarrassed, "Well I enjoy working out here more than doing a bunch of paperwork like I do while we're closed, plus it lets me keep a close eye on the customers to see what they need."

"Fair enough." Ren replied flatly.

Junior brought drinks out on the table, "Here you go, one strawberry sunrise and one water, drink up you two!"

Nora brought up her glass in a toast like position towards Ren and the jade dragon sighed and clinked glasses with the redhead.

Blake and Yang sat in one of the booths near the rear that gave them a good view of the two girls that stood guard at the entrance to the back rooms. "Yep." Yang whispered with a pop, "No doubt about it. Those two are the ones in charge of the entry back there."

"They look like normal club goers, not bouncers." Blake said.

"The outfits do, sure, but you see those crossed arms and those steel looks? They're bouncers no doubt about it. And from the lean muscles I'd guess ones that are supposed to be able to take on skilled fighters. Like us huntsmen maybe."

"Elite guards... A confirmation of Torchwick's presence perhaps?" Blake queried.

Yang shrugged, "No telling. But if I had to bet I'd say we're on the right track here."

"We just have to wait until Jaune and Pyrrha set off their end of the plan then." Blake replied.

"Yep." Yang popped once more.

Jaune and Pyrrha walked onto the dance floor side by side to an open spot they were certain would be clearly visible to the pair of rear guards. Pyrrha looked around awkwardly again and then at Jaune, "Um… Jaune, before we start, you should know that we might not seem normal out here because… well… I don't know how to dance!"

"What?" Jaune queried surprised.

"I only ever spent time learning combat Jaune, I never danced with anybody…"

Jaune grinned and thumb pointed himself, "Well you just lucked out Pyrrha! I happened to grow up with seven sisters who did nothing but force me into their hobbies, one of which was dancing! If there's one thing I know better than fighting it's how to move on the dance floor!"

Pyrrha went red at this, "Um… Well.. In that case, would you please show me?" She put up her hands in a defensive wave, "Only if you feel like it's necessary to the mission of course!"

Jaune laughed, "It ain't necessary Pyrrha but it won't compromise us anyway, come on I'll show you. It's real easy, just take that combat stuff you know and put it to the rhythm."

"Like this?'' Pyrrha began slashing and parrying to the beat with her invisible sword and shield.

"Almost!" Jaune chuckled, "Now just smooth it out to be less jerky and spin around every so often!"

"You can't turn your back on the enemy Jaune!" Pyrrha exclaimed unbelievably.

Jaune laughed again, "You're right about that, but you can turn it on your dance partner Pyrrha!"

Pyrrha awkwardly looked at Jaune, "Ok…"

Jaune cocked a brow and extended an arm, "Here, take my hand."

Pyrrha went wide eyed and reached for Jaune's hand. The knight grasped it preemptively before she went all the way and manipulated it upward, spinning the girl into a closer contact with him which left her even more wide eyed for a split second before he made a back step which widened the distance between them. Pyrrha fell into the groove, following the directions of Jaune to the rhythm without thinking about the mission at all. So it continued for a few songs before suddenly the melody shifted to be much slower and the lights went down.

Pyrrha looked around at the other dancers as they swayed close to each other slowly, doing little more than embracing each other. She looked back to Jaune awkwardly, "We um… I mean, if you don't want to dance to this we probably don't need to Jaune."

"What do you mean Pyrrha?" Jaune asked curiously, "This is just perfect!"

"Huh?!" Pyrrha was pulled in tight to Jaune who placed his hand on her waist and in doing so elicited a high temperature from her.

Jaune leaned in close to Pyrrha's boiling ear and whispered, "When I give you the signal slap me across the face."

"What!" Pyrrha exclaimed in a whisper back.

"To distract the twin guards!" Jaune replied, "We'll make them think we got in a fight and they'll come break it up since they're the closest."

"Oh." Pyrrha whispered back as she came down from her confused heat, "Ok, what's the signal then?"

Jaune thought for a moment, "Uh… Know what, forget any signal, just do it now and get ready to act well after!"

Pyrrha wound up for a slap but dropped her hand before doing anything, "Jaune, I… I can't do this, especially not to you!"

Jaune held her even closer, "It's ok Pyrrha, I'm ready for it and it's for the mission. There's nothing wrong about it this time."

Pyrrha hesitated but then steeled herself. She stepped back from Jaune and raised her hand again, "How could you!"

The warrior princess unleashed a slap so hard Jaune nearly spun in place from it and it echoed through the dance hall. She put both hands over her mouth in shock at the power she'd unwittingly unleashed upon the farm boy. The two guards closest to them saw the conflict and rolled their eyes and let out a simultaneous groan as the walked away from the back room entrance over towards the abusive couple. As soon as the twins left their post Yang nodded towards Blake who nodded back and the two snuck quickly past the velvet rope barring the entrance to the rear. The twins walked up to Jaune and Pyrrha with annoyed expressions on their faces. The one on the left in the white outfit spoke up, "Alright you two, what's going on here?"

Yang and Blake strolled casually down the dimly lit corridor of black illuminated by red. The golden mane leaned over to the black bow with a hand to the side of her mouth, "Just follow my lead, ok? If anybody comes to talk to us just act all cold and uptight like you always do."

Blake growled a little at the direction, "Where exactly do you think Torchwick could be back here?"

"No clue, we're just gonna have to wander round til we find him."

"And when we find him? What then?"

Yang punched her palm, "Easy, we just get close to him however we can, knock him out, and then drag him out."

"And if that sets off the guards?"

"We'll just have to cross that bridge when we get there ninja girl."

The two girls walked past several rooms filled with black suited men surrounded by club clad women. Both styles of dress were often somewhat loosened and wrinkled as the wearers laughed and clinked glasses with each other. Occasionally a woman led one of the black suited goons to an even more private area and closed the curtains behind them when they walked in. Blake kept a sharp eye on everything around her and leaned close to Yang, "These men's uniforms…"

"Yeah I noticed." Yang responded, "They're Torchwick's men for sure."

"So then Torchwick is here."

"Maybe, but even if he isn't here right now this is definitely his hideout. The intel we got from the Shay D. man was right."

"We need to speed up the search."

"I got an idea. You just stay behind me and keep your aloof act up."

Yang spotted a guy stumbling his way around the hall and went up to him with Blake in tow. Yang tapped the man on the shoulder and he spun towards her, "Huh?"

Yang leaned into her cleavage revealing pose a bit and put her hand on the grunt's shoulder, "Hey there handsome, me and my friend are new back here. Do you know where the boss is, we got told to go…" Yang leaned in closer with soft eyes and voice, "pay him a visit…"

The thug looked between the two girls for a bit and puffed up a little, "Sure you don't just wanna pay someone else a visit?"

Blake rolled her eyes but Yang steered into it, dragging her hand down from the shoulder as a single finger which she used to draw on the thug's chest, "Tell you what big guy, If you help us with the first one we'll for sure pay you back with the second."

The bruiser went redder in the face than the spirits had made him and pointed down the hall, "Just up those stairs," the man hiccuped, "The door at the end of that hall."

Yang grabbed the thug's tie and pulled him down eye to eye with her, "Thanks handsome."

The golden mane then slightly loosened her grip on the tie and allowed it to naturally slide out of her hand as she walked off, with both Blake and the gangster's eyes following her. Once they were out of earshot Blake narrowed her eyes at Yang, "Quite the performance you put on back there."

Yang cracked her neck and knuckles with a grin, "Yeah." She player groaned out, "I still got it."

The two girls began walking up the small stairwell which ended on another hall. The door at the end of that one was clearly some kind of office rather than the lounges that lined the sides. They began their elegant step towards the lair of their prey. Blake leaned in again, "What's the plan? Sneak in for an ambush? Or maybe act our way close to him?"

"The heels ain't exactly making sneaking easy, but I guess we could take em off. Acting our way close to him might give him time to figure out we're packing heat. How quick do you think you can draw that gunsword?"

"Pretty quickly. I practiced the draw from concealment a bunch of times before we went out."

"Ok then, we'll act our way close but we're gonna make it a short act. Soon as you're in good range put the pistol part to him to keep him still so I can unconceal my gauntlets from this bracelet mode and knock him out."

Blake nodded coldly and the two made their way towards the door. The two merely stood in front of the office for a bit looking at each other before Yang nodded, let out a relaxing breath, went into her flirtatious face, and opened the door. The office was spacious but completely divorced from the rest of the club's aesthetic, it looked rather like a typical work environment. There was a desk, some shelves, and a large board upon which a large blueprint and some small photographs hung, each marked with some red writing. There in front of that architectural diagram, focused on it rather than the opened up door was the redheaded man in a white coat that had been described to the two girls by Ruby. "Neo would you…" Roman turned around as he spoke and saw the two girls who had walked in, "You're not Neo… Who are you? Why are you here?"

Yang and blake kept stepping forward as seductively as they could muster and Yang spoke, "We're the new girls. The boys sent us here to take care of the boss."

As the heels kept clacking closer to him on the office floor Roman sighed, "Of course they did, look I'm sorry to turn you away but now isn't a good ti…" Blake surged forward in an instant and a pistol pressed its muzzle against the center of Roman's brow. Roman sighed "_And_ it turns out you two aren't the new girls at all. How'd the huntsmen find me?"

"Sorry Torchy boy," Yang said as she strode forward and gauntleted vambraces extended from the bracelets on her wrists, "I'm afraid you'll have to take a little nap before you find out."

Roman simply smiled, "Oh, I doubt that goldy."

Yang wound up a right hook and was about to unleash it when something hooked around her right elbow and yanked her back, causing her to spin around and fall. Blake caught this out of the corner of her eye and turned her head towards it only to receive a hit to the face with some black hook like object that sent her away from Roman. Blake was pushed up against a wall by the blow rather than knocked over and when she looked up she saw an extremely small girl with half pink and half brown hair wearing a short white coat over a hip revealing and skintight brown unitard tucked into some brown trousers which themselves were tucked into the white riding spats connected to her shoes. The girl smiled and twirled an umbrella around as she directed her one pink eye and one brown eye both at Blake mockingly.

Roman readjusted his collar and hat before chuckling, "I'm so glad you two could swing by right when I had called Neo in. A real fine coincidence that!" The bowler outfitted criminal then produced a scroll from his pocket which he showed off to the two girls. "What do you say we invite some more people to this little get together?"

The crime boss pressed the gold diamond icon on his scroll, causing it to blink red.


	13. Volume 1 Chapter 13: Paint The Town Red

"They're onto us and called in help! Keep them off our backs! Oof!" Blake's voice went out loudly over the tac-comm network before being cut off by the sound of some blow landing on her.

Jaune and Pyrrha who had been escorted out of the club and onto the street by the twin bouncer broads received this alert just as the red and white divas received theirs. The red twin pulled her scroll out and saw the red flash, widening her eyes at it a bit. She faced Jaune and Pyrrha quickly with her flat look regained, "You two can come back when you stop fighting," The red one then turned back towards her white counterpart, "Come on Mel let's get back in there and deal with whatever this is."

The white one turned the same direction as the red to head back in but in the first step the red felt a tight grip on her shoulder that stopped her. She looked back over her shoulder to see Jaune's steel eyes over his polite smile, "Sorry ladies, 'fraid we can't let you back in there either."

"Hands off Miltia!" The white girl launched a kick at Jaune's face with the heels he now saw were in fact bladed, he recoiled a bit, releasing his grip, but the kick was quickly deflected away from his head by a red blur.

Pyrrha stood shieldless with her spear now in a high two handed guard stance with her steel eyes fixed on the white kicker, "Feet off Jaune."

Both girls entered their own stances and Jaune sighed and doffed his blazer to reveal two black shoulder straps it had hidden. Jaune reached behind his back and an unclipping sound was heard as an arming sword still within its sheath was pointed forward towards the twins, "Guess we pretty much suck at sneaking around huh? Alright then," Jaune's blade and hilt extended into their claymore form and he took up the roof stance his grandfather had taught him, "let's just keep them busy til Blake and Yang make it out. I'm sure Ren and Nora are doing the same inside."

* * *

Inside the club Ren and Nora sat at the bar carrying on a lively conversation with Junior. Nora made wild gestures as she sipped from her fourth drink, "So there we were! At high noon!"

"It was nighttime." Ren said flatly as he propped himself up with one arm and sipped from his water glass with the other.

"Surrounded by fifty elite rebels!"

"There were only two. And they were asleep drunk."

"But we fought through them all, captured them with our bare hands, and collected a fortune in lien from the emperor!"

"Tied them up while they were asleep and got the standard bounty from the bureaucracy which covered about a month on our budget."

"Ha!" Junior belked out joyously, "You know that reminds me of the time a couple of my guys got drunk on the job!" Suddenly Junior perked up at something and removed the scroll from his pocket looking at it, "Uh, sorry guys, but I gotta leave you two. Maybe we can finish this another time?"

Blake's voice came through the comm system for Ren and Nora, "They're onto us and called in help! Keep them off our backs! Oof!"

The two immediately realized what was going on. Nora quickly leapt over the bar and swung her left hand into a vice like grip on a lower portion of the club owner's body with a vicious grin on her face that left Junior in a painful expression and groan, "Sorry pal, but if you try going back there there's gonna be some other stuff you can't finish!"

Junior heard a cocking sound and looked to the side where Ren still sat at the bar, holding him at gunpoint as he continued sipping his water. Ren finished a sip and stared Junior down, "I'd advise against reinforcing your master."

* * *

"They're onto us and called in help! Keep them off our backs! Oof!" Ruby and Weiss were startled from their boring observations by the alert from Blake.

Ruby demounted her rifle from it's bipod emplaced position and got up in a pose clearly meant to initiate a leap off the rooftop. Weiss immediately yanked the red hood back by her cape, "What do you think you are doing?! We are supposed to cover the exit!"

Ruby looked back at Weiss quickly, "It's different now Weiss! If we don't go in and back them up they'll get captured instead of Torchwick!"

Weiss groaned, "Fine! But if Torchwick escapes…"

"He won't." Ruby said with determination. The two leapt off the roof together and ran towards the back entrance.

* * *

Blake and Yang stood poised between Roman and Neo and the exit from the office. Roman stood strangely un-stanced while trapped in the office by the girls and leaned up against his desk to give a sigh, "Look ladies, I really don't have time for this kind of thing so I tell you what, you two leave me alone and I'll call off the guys I have coming in to get you. You let me go, I let you go, and we both let bygones be bygones, whadaya say?"

Yang went into her wolfish grin, "Sorry Torchy boy, but we got our own backup, I doubt yours will be able to get you out of this one. Tell _you _what though, if you give up and come quietly we won't need to crack your skull together with your little ice cream cone's."

Roman smirked, "My little Neo here is a lot harder to crack than you think."

Roman immediately raised his cane and fired a shotgun blast at Yang who ducked it only to be uppercut by Neo's umbrella. Yang took the uppercut unflinchingly, had her eyes begin glowing red, and immediately began swinging into Neo who dodged every blow as though she could see them beforehand. Yang kept her eyes locked on Neo and shouted, "Blake! Get the boss so we can get out of here!"

Blake surged forward at Roman who fired another shot at her, but her image merely dissolved to reveal the true ninja ducked behind it. Blake rose from her low run into an upward slash with her ninjato that was narrowly parried by Roman. More such slashes were issued rapidly to every open point on the crime lord which he only just managed to deflect with his cane. Roman kept his own eyes fixed and issued a similar aid call to Yang's, "Neo! I could use a little help over here!"

Neo dodged another punch and followed through on that dodge into a cartwheel kick aimed at Blake which hit her into the shelves on the side of the room. As Neo engaged Blake Yang rushed Roman, "Switch partners and it's me you gotta fight Torchy boy!"

The blonde socked Roman straight in the jaw and he was thrown against the same shelves Blake had been. The crime boss shot another blast at her that the golden mane dodged once more before lunging forward to harry the criminal with a series of blows that the boss was forced to fend off with his cane without being able to strike back easily with his back against the wall. Meanwhile Blake and Neo kept sparring silently. Neo dodged each strike from the ninja but didn't seem to strike back herself. Blake's eyes narrowed at the teasing style and the ice cream girl smiled at her. Blake was thrown off by the grin and faltered a bit in her recovery from a missed slash, an opportunity Neo immediately pounced upon with a thrust of her umbrella that ended in a point blank shot against Blake. The kunoichi was knocked back towards the shelves again this time with a clearly shattered aura.

Yang gasped a bit at the sight of this and Roman wasted no time using the distraction as an advantage. The crime boss pounced on Blake and out of Yang's reach and tackled the black clad girl to the ground where he wrestled her for a second. Roman rose with the top of Blake's hair gripped tight in his extended left hand and his cane pointed point blank at the girl's back with his right. He used the struggling girl as a shield between him and Yang and panted out, "Okay Goldy, we've had our little fun time together, but now it's time for you to give up the game or else I'll paint this room with your friend here."

Yang gritted her teeth while held still by this new hostage based standoff.

* * *

Jaune and Pyrrha stood arrayed against the twins but neither side had moved yet. Jaune became a bit confused by this, "So… Are we just gonna stand around here all night or?…"

Pyrrha addressed her leader without taking her eyes off the twins, "We have the obvious reach advantage, as soon as they move in we'll strike and they know it."

"I see," Jaune responded to Pyrrha, "So you two are just trying to keep us away from our friends the same as we are keeping you away from your boss. Well in that case I'm fine staying put in some sort of mutual stall."

The white twin humphed, "We weren't stalling for that, stupid."

The red twin continued, "We were stalling to come up with a plan to beat you idiots."

"Uh… But you guys didn't talk to each other…" Jaune pointed out.

"We don't need to." Both twins said perfectly harmonized before immediately lunging towards Jaune. Jaune immediately brought the sword down from its roof and Pyrrha thrust with her spear but it was a feint. The red twin parried both strikes into each other with her crimson claws while the white twin altered her feigned bladed heel strike towards its true target Pyrrha, slashing her aura defended chest and pushing her away from Jaune. The twins then refocused on Jaune who swept wide arcs defensively to buy time for Pyrrha to rejoin. Before Pyrrha was back up though Miltia deflected a montante swing and Melanie offered a thrust heel into the opening in Jaune's side this created. At this moment Pyrrha made it back up and saw the incoming strike on her romance, gasping.

Pyrrha's aura glowed a bit by her will and Melanie's kick faltered, leaving just enough room for Jaune to dodge it. While Melanie stood a bit confused at the development Pyrrha lanced towards her from behind, only to get parried by Miltia again. The parry, oddly enough, was exactly when the unstruck Melanie spun into an immediate kick perfectly aimed at Pyrrha even though she hadn't had eyes on her. Pyrrha's aura glowed again and the kick was delayed enough for her to dodge out of the way just as a realization of the twins took hold in her, "Jaune, they can sense through each other or something!"

"Figured out our semblance huh?" Miltia started.

"Well we know yours now too!" Melanie finished.

Jaune and Pyrrha both rushed the twins from opposite sides, but each of the back to back twins easily fended off the strikes aimed at the other one and struck back in the gap created. Rather than Melanie, this time it was Miltia who aimed her claws at Pyrrha's opening, slashing rapidly and chewing through Pyrrha's aura like a woodchipper until it shattered and Pyrrha managed to recover her stance and fend off the final strike. Meanwhile Melanie kicked powerfully and took a chunk of Jaune's aura away while knocking him back.

"See why you can't touch us now losers?" Melanie asked mockingly.

"One of us is the spear and one of us is the shield, and with our semblance we can switch which one's which whenever we want." Miltia informed.

"There's not a pair on remnant that's a better team than us." The twins said harmoniously.

* * *

"Dammit…" Junior said in a groan as Nora held him by his manhood, "I shoulda known this was why you were here when you started talking about bounty hunting… Same job different country huh?"

"Not quite." Ren said flatly.

"Yeah! This time we're doing this for our friends not for money!" Nora then put her free hand to her chin, "Though getting the money will be nice… Ooh! Ren! We should use it to buy more party outfits!"

The happy hopping elicited from Nora by the thought of bounty caused the pain she was inflicting to become more excruciating upon Junior. The groans now locked the club owner's face into a grimace of anger and pain, "Yeah well you two aren't gonna wear those here ever again." Junior slapped a spot under the bar and an emergency claxon began blaring over the music. As the patrons evacuated the employees entered armed with submachine guns pointed towards the two bounty hunters. Junior smiled through the pain Nora was inflicting, "As a matter of fact, this is the last night out you'll ever have anywhere!"

Nora grasped the huge barkeep up and tossed him out from behind the bar into the way of the shooters. Meanwhile Ren spun, unleashed a hail of machine pistol fire on the guards, and leapt backwards behind the bar as he did. Junior landed on the ground and rolled a bit before standing back up and shouting at the minions, "What are you waiting for? Take these freelancers out dammit!"

One of the nearby ones hesitated, "Inside our own club boss? But we don't have insurance!"

Junior grabbed the thug by the collar and brought him in close with a snarl, "We have enough cash to cover it."

Junior pushed his goon away as he snatched the subgun from him and began unleashing a barrage from it, followed swiftly by the goons who ceased hesitating and began their own storm. The bottles burst into explosions of liquid overhead of Ren and Nora who were both oddly calm under these circumstances. Ren sighed as he reloaded his pistols, "Well Nora it seems we didn't manage to avoid the fight yet again."

"Want to take them out like usual Ren?" asked the heart chested girl as she hitched up her dress to retrieve her great maul from its concealment. Ren merely nodded and Nora grinned. The jade dragon leapt out from behind the bar in a plume of shenlong's mist which he trailed behind him as he wove through the gunners who occasionally hit each other with stray fire.

Junior himself fell prey to a stray shot to his aura from the mist maze and shouted out while enraged by it, "Cease fire! Don't shoot til you see them!"

The goons all began turning in place on the lookout. Intermittently they witnessed flashes in the mist and heard bursts of gunfire. Each one standing alone was struck down from behind by either a verdant or pink and silver blur that came out of the mist quick. Junior became angrier and angrier as he heard the cries of each of his men getting injured. The barkeep made his way back to the bar through the mist, dropped the smg he'd been using and pulled a large metal bat from beneath his work space. The bat shifted into a tubelike apparatus which Junior placed upon his shoulder, pulling the trigger placed upon it to fire a rocket into the center of the room.

The rocket's exhaust parted the mist quickly right before the shockwave of its explosion blew it out from the middle and set off a sprinkler system that began causing the mist to die down. Ren and Nora got up slowly from the shockwave amongst groaning henchmen and both stared down Junior from across the ballroom floor. The huge barkeep shifted his weapon back to a bat and leapt down onto the partially blown up dance floor, walking forward maliciously towards the pair of bounty huntsmen, "Like Senior always said, if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself."

Ren stayed focused on Hei Xiong and shouted, "Nora!"

"On it!" Responded the Valkyrie who leapt forward to bring down her maul on Junior. The giant didn't fall to the strike, rather just as it was about to hit he reached up and grabbed the shaft of the hammer, using it to toss Nora into the air and clobber her with a one handed blow of the other club he owned. Ren shot a cable between the barkeep's legs and used it to slide between them and slash at one with the liu ye dao mode of his other stormflower. Unfortunately Junior's aura held and he reached down fast and grabbed Ren by his sprinkler wetted hair, yanking him up before he could slide away and then slamming him back to the ground, destroying what little aura the jade dragon had remaining.

Junior raised his bat two handed for a final strike on Ren but Nora leapt back in and performed an upward strike with her hammer on the club, knocking it up and behind Junior and putting the giant a bit off balance. Nora then used the opening to strike the left knee joint of the barkeep, bringing him down a peg. Ren lying on his back used the lowered position of the foe to spring into a full body double kick which struck Junior in the jaw and sent him stumbling a bit backwards as well as getting Ren back to his feet in a fighting stance with his sabers. The pair rushed Junior simultaneously but Junior merely held ground and wound up for a swing to sweep both. Nora realized this but a bit too late, while she was able to push Ren out of reach of the swing she herself took it full force and her aura collapsed as she was knocked into the wall of the dance floor. As Nora rose slowly back to her feet the rain from the sprinklers ran out and the imposing Junior seethed with rage at the two bounty partners, "If I was one of you two I'd run. But then again I doubt you'd make it far."

* * *

Ruby and Weiss ran up to the back doors and tried kicking them open but the two were unable to do so. Ruby looked at Weiss, "They're locked!"

"Stand back Rose!" Ruby did as Weiss said and the heiress created a white glyph on the door and infused it with a handful of loose dust she had in a pouch on her belt.

Ruby went wide eyed at the technique Weiss was clearly using to break in as the heiress moved to the same position, "You're gonna set off an explosion?!"

Weiss looked egotistically at Ruby, "It _is _one of the advantages of a construct type semblance Rose."

Ruby got excited, "Set it off! I wanna see what happens!"

Weiss did precisely that and the set of doors was concealed behind a plume of orange flame for a split second before being concealed instead behind smoke which cleared to show a hall blaring a claxon and flashing red lights. Ruby went even wider eyed, "Wow… We gotta teach Ren and Blake how to do this with their constructs…"

Several disheveled goons emerged from various alcoves and branching paths the two girls could see, likely alerted by the sound of the explosion. Ruby immediately picked some off with her rifle and Weiss charged forward on a heel glyph. Ruby launched herself in as well soon after. The thugs they fought through were too busy getting themselves together to fight back and at first the pair of girls was able to fell them easily. Eventually though the backroom inhabitants began wielding their guns properly. Ruby and Weiss began having to avoid and take cover from the fire as well as unleash their own strikes, slowing them down in their advance towards where the location of their friends in danger were.

"Weiss!" Ruby shouted across the hall to the alcove in which her partner took cover.

"What?" Weiss shouted back.

"We've gotta clear these guys faster!"

"And how do you expect to do that?"

"I think you know exactly how you usually do it."

Weiss' eyes widened then glared daggers at Ruby, "No! There is no way in hell I am going to set a building on fire Rose!"

"You don't need to aim at the building, just shoot a jet at the gunmen!"

"You think I can control it like that? It is not like the explosive glyphs I can make Rose! It goes wherever it pleases!"

"Well do you have a better idea about how to back up our team and catch Torchwick!"

Weiss thought with gritted teeth for a moment but eventually groaned, "Fine Rose, but if we have to run out of a fire carrying a tied up criminal just know that I am blaming you!"

The white dressed girl spun out of cover and unleashed a flame on the hall they were storming right down the middle. Those henchmen caught in it screamed and rolled around while the lucky few who weren't were suppressed from being able to fire. Weiss cut off the burst quickly and Ruby immediately picked off with her rifle those who peeked back out after the roar of flames died out. After a few seconds it seemed everything was unignited and Ruby walked over to Weiss, "See Ice Queen? You can always use a little fire without lighting the whole building up."

Weiss grunted in disgust, "Can we just go? We've already wasted too much time as it is."

"Yeah, let's move." The two girls ran upstairs quickly as a small ember fell quietly onto one of the curtains which kept the rooms private.

* * *

"Neo, open the rat tunnel." Roman called out to his small helper as he held Blake at gunpoint. Neo casually walked over to the shelves that they'd knocked around during the fight and reached behind them, flipping some switch which caused them to slide aside and reveal a secret door with a keypad on it.

Yang spat from the spot she stood still in with eyes crimson, "You cowardly little son of a…"

"Ah, ah, ah!" Roman interrupted, "Not cowardly, cunning! And practical, after all you can't be doing stuff that gets the huntsmen to come after you without a way to lose them now, can you? Once we're on our way out of here you can take back your little friend with her…" Roman looked perplexedly at the hand he held Blake's head by, "weird feeling bow and be on your own way out."

"You think we won't chase you down as soon as you let go of her?" Yang said as she observed the somewhat frightened Blake.

"No… What I _think _is that there's lots of paths out of here that that leads to and I'm not going to tell you which one I'm taking." Roman responded. Neo typed the code into the door's keypad and it sounded a tone of opening before swinging wide. "Welp," Roman said as he began shuffling towards the door with Blake, "it's been real fun hanging out with you girls today but I'm afraid it's time for us to part ways."

Yang gritted her teeth and Neo smiled in devilish cuteness her direction as she pranced towards the exit with Roman. Suddenly and without warning though an explosion ripped the main door into the office off its hinges and crashed it across the room into the desk. Weiss and Ruby charged in and Ruby fired at Neo as soon as she caught a glimpse of anyone other than who she knew, though Neo was able to take cover from it. Blake used the distraction to kick Roman and broke free of his grip on her hair, rolling away from him and back into a crouching stance with her focus on him. Blake was in a tense stance, but everyone else including the crime boss seemed to just stand there stunned for a moment as they looked at her. Roman was the first to break the silence with a laugh, "Ha! No wonder the bow felt weird!"

Blake's eyes went wide and she saw her black ribbon still clutched in Torchwick's hand. She reached up and felt the top of her head and instead of feeling the velvet ribbon she felt an animal's pivoting ear. Ruby was the first to speak up for the good side, "Blake… You're a faun?…" The cat eared girl immediately broke away running into the escape route and Ruby cried out after her "Blake wait!"

Weiss shook free of her trance and aimed her rapier at Roman who called out to his assistant, "Neo get us out of here!"

Neo leapt forward and grabbed Roman just as Weiss shot a bolt of ice towards him. As soon as the bolt hit Roman though he seemed to shatter into a million pieces along with Weiss' entire view of the room. Behind the shattered mirror the door to the escape route slammed shut and Yang ran up to it and began beating on it, "Argh! They got away! And so did Blake! There's no way we can know which way they went in there!"

"We need to leave." Ruby said seriously.

"Wait Rose." Weiss said as she quickly drew her scroll and began photographing the board with blueprints on it, "Even if we can't capture Torchwick I want to acquire his plans."

"Fine, just hurry it up!" Yang said.

Ruby pressed her ear, "Infil this is overwatch, the mission is aborted! I repeat, mission aborted! Escape and head to the rendezvous point! Out!"

Weiss stopped photographing, "Ok I have all of it, let's go."

Ruby went back over towards the entrance to the office and went wide eyed as she looked down the corridor and called back, "Uh… I don't think we can get out this way anymore…"

"What?" Weiss said as she went up to Ruby's side. Weiss looked down the hall and saw an orange glow coming from within the stairwell and black smoke rising up through it. Weiss turned her head to Ruby with narrow eyes, "I blame you for this."

"Can you use an explosive glyph on the escape door?" Ruby asked in a stressed tone.

"I'm out of enough loose fire dust for that." Weiss answered.

"Dammit." Yang said, "Rubes, looks like I'm gonna need you to shoot me."

"What?!" Weiss shouted.

"Ok!" Ruby said fondly towards Yang.

The red hood chambered another round and aimed down at Yang, "Go for the chest wouldja Rubes? That's where I got the most cushioning after all."

"What on remnant are you two maniacs doing?!" Weiss shouted.

"Relax Weiss," Ruby said "we just need to charge up Yang's semblance so she can bust the door down."

"Her semblance?" Weiss said still confused.

"That's right Ice Queen," Yang said happily, "I can convert the force from stuff that hits my aura into strength that's amplified over the amount of force I originally took in. I call it 'Too Hot to Touch!'"

Weiss' face went flat, "That is the most idiotic title…"

Ruby interrupted by taking the rifle shot into Yang's chest and knocked her back. Weiss gasped. Yang rose up from the hit with her aura glowing gold and her eyes glowing red, "Time to punch our way outta here!"

Yang wound up and launched a full body jab into the coded metal door, busting it from its hinges and leaving it skittering across the floor of the hall ahead. Weiss looked wide eyed at the show of strength and Ruby grabbed her by the arm, "Come on, let's go!"

The three girls all ran out of the now burning building together.

* * *

Ren and Nora both faced off against the hulking Junior while hearing the comm broadcast from Ruby, "Infil this is overwatch, the mission is aborted! I repeat, mission aborted! Escape and head to the rendezvous point! Out!"

Ren looked at Nora and the girl nodded then addressed Junior, "Sorry Junior, we gotta leave now! Bye!"

Junior shouted angrily at the redhead, "You aren't going anywhere!"

Ren addressed the giant calmly as well, "I'm afraid you may have more on your hands than us right now." The jade dragon pointed over towards the flames that were now pouring out from the entrance to the back rooms and Junior went wide eyed at the sight. Ren continued, "I'm aware that you were not too against damaging the easily repaired bar and floor, but since you are uninsured you may wish to keep your entire property from burning down instead of pursuing us."

"Argh! Damn you!" Junior yelled as he climbed out of the dance floor and fetched a fire extinguisher with which he began fighting the blaze.

"Have a good night Junior!" Nora cried as she and Ren fled the burning club. Nora spoke with Ren more quietly as they ran out, "That was a close one Ren, if he didn't have to fight the fire it's us that woulda been toast!"

Ren nodded and the two burst out the front entrance of the club to see Jaune and Pyrrha still in the middle of their fight with the twins. Ren sighed and produced a pistol, firing a burst into the ground around the twins, "You are now outnumbered and your employer needs help fighting the fire," Ren pointed a thumb back to the building smoke could now be seen emanating from, "I'd advise you to disengage."

Melanie and Miltia looked at each other and then got out of their stances, raised their chins, and haughtily walked back inside. Jaune and Pyrrha looked at Ren in a bit of astonishment at his negotiation skills. Jaune perked up out of the trance, "Uh… Alright then! Good job handling that fight Ren! Now let's hightail it out of here!"

Team JNPR ran off down the street to the assigned rendezvous point.

* * *

Junior put out the last few flames he saw with an extinguisher that he tossed in a pile with a bunch of empty ones. The twins came back over to him from where they'd been engaged in the same thing. Junior tiredly addressed them, "Everything put out on you guys' end?" The twins nodded a bit forlorn at Junior who sighed and plopped down where he stood to sit on the floor exhausted, "Good…" Junior heard the front entrance open and began shouting out, "Sorry we're..." Junior looked over as he shouted and saw the bowler hatted man and his assistant entering through the front way. The giant stood and dusted himself off, "Boss?! You came back? I thought you'd move spots after something like this happened?"

Roman twirled his cane as he walked over to Junior, "I just waited to make sure those huntsgirls left before returning."

"But what if they call the cops on this place?"

"I doubt a bunch of freelancers would, but even so we don't have enough time to move hideouts. We're too close to when we have to pull off our biggest job yet."

"We're still gonna go through with that? After everything that happened here tonight?"

Roman closed with Junior and put the tip of his cane under the giant's chin, "We don't change plans because of one little incident with some girls, especially not our most important one of all time!" Roman withdrew his cane and began walking over towards the bar, "Call every man we have back here and have them clean this place up as well as they can. We'll need them all together for the heist anyway." Roman sat down on a barstool and sighed at the shattered bottles, "Great… Right when I could use a drink…"


	14. Volume 1 Chapter 14: Black vs White

A group of teens converged by running into an alley a good distance away from a semi-burnt club. The red hooded one panted and addressed those in her allied forces, "Are all you JNPR guys alright?"

The leader of JNPR answered back, "Yeah, just barely though. Those twins were a lot tougher than I thought they'd be. If Ren hadn't talked them off we'd be done for." Jaune looked around a bit and a puzzled look came upon his face, "Where's Blake?"

Ruby lowered her head at the question without saying anything back. Yang stepped forward instead and answered seriously with a tint of red to her eyes, "We don't know. She ran away in the middle of our fight."

"She just chickened out like that from catching Torchwick?" Nora asked.

"No that's not…" Ruby came in with defensively.

"She's a faunus." Weiss interrupted, "Torchwick ripped off her bow to reveal her cat ears and when we found out she fled. Honestly good riddance."

Ruby burst out at Weiss, "She's our teammate Weiss! How can you just throw her away like this?!"

"Perhaps because we can do just as well without a lying faunus who never wanted to aid us in the first place!" Weiss retorted. The heiress produced her scroll and put it in front of Ruby's face, "I've documented Torchwick's plans Rose! With this as well as the SDC schedule I have determined exactly when and where he is going to strike next! He won't be nearly as safe from an ambush there as he was in his hideout!"

Jaune interjected, "Weiss the people we fought nearly had us. They're a lot more dangerous than we thought."

"And Blake or whatever her real name is is a lot more useless." Weiss retorted.

"In a straight up fight... yeah…" Yang said displeased.

Ruby turned to her, "Yang? You're on board with Weiss now?"

"The Ice Queen has a point Ruby." Yang said frustratedly, "All Blake did in that fight was give Torchwick a hostage to work with. That and… well... she and I haven't gotten along since we met."

Ruby was at first a bit shocked but toughened herself, "Look, I don't care if you have some sort of problem with her or not. We need her to help us! I'm not going to do anything against Torchwick until we have her back."

Weiss shouted angrily at the red hood, "You would let Torchwick escape for _her_?! She is nothing to us and we are nothing to her!"

Ruby steeled her gaze at the heiress, "She's something to me."

Weiss scoffed, "Of course someone like you would put stock in the thing that fails her. Well then you can just look for her without me."

The heiress then turned and stomped out of the alley, leaving the rest of them, Yang sighed as Weiss left, "I guess that makes two gone."

"Let's… just split up and start looking for Blake ok…" Ruby said downtrodden.

The others looked around at each other but nodded. Jaune approached Ruby, "Ok Ruby, we'll get back in our pairs from the mission and start combing the area for her."

"Uh… Actually Jaune could you pair up with me this time?" Ruby asked, "I need to talk to you about something."

Pyrrha perked up at this, "Oh, I'm sure you could just talk to him lat..."

Yang noticed Pyrrha's move and busted in, "Sure thing Rubes! I'll just take Pyrrha off his hands for you!"

Jaune went along with the idea, "Yeah, sure Ruby, I'll go with you instead. Alright guys let's split up. Even if we can't find her tonight we should meet back up at the dorms before it gets too late."

"You got it Jaune!" Nora said ecstatically as she saluted him before grabbing Ren and harrying off to wander in search of the cat girl.

Yang grabbed the slightly defeated looking Pyrrha by the shoulder and began escorting her off. The blonde looked back over her shoulder and winked at Ruby, "You two have fun!"

Ruby went a bit red in the face at Yang's obvious ulterior motive in taking Pyrrha away but shook it off. Jaune approached the red hood and patted her on the back before pointing, "Let's try over this way Ruby." Ruby nodded and the two began walking off down the street. Jaune looked over to the short girl walking beside him, "Well?"

"Huh?" Ruby said looking up at Jaune.

"What did you wanna talk to me about?" Jaune asked.

"Oh what, you couldn't tell from everyone on my team deciding to break away from each other? I need help Jaune! I need to know how to keep us from falling apart like this!"

"I don't know Ruby, I just got lucky with my team. I haven't had to try hard to keep them working together they just kinda… do…"

Ruby stopped by a wall and leaned her back against it in defeat, "So basically the same thing you always tell me when I ask for help then."

Jaune leaned against the same wall, "Yeah, I guess so. Sorry about that."

"You've got nothing to be sorry about Jaune. You're a great leader, but you're so naturally talented at it that _you _don't even know how you do it. I just wish I was like that. Like you."

"You know, I wish I was more like you too Ruby."

Ruby snorted dismissively, "Yeah right."

"It's true!" Jaune said, perking up. The farm boy turned his wall lean to his side to look at Ruby, "You've got your aura techniques and your semblance down. You earned your way into the academy two years before everyone else. Meanwhile I didn't really earn my way in at all."

Ruby turned to her own side to come face to face with Jaune, "Maybe you didn't earn it before but you definitely have now, otherwise you wouldn't have gotten made a leader."

Jaune smirked, "You know Ruby, maybe if you listened to what you tell me all the time instead of what I tell you all the time you'd be a lot more confident about the leadership thing."

Ruby smirked back, "So what? You think I should just ego boost myself?"

"Well if you won't do it I certainly can," Jaune stood straight and performed an exaggerated bow before Ruby, "after all you are one of the most skilled and courageous ladies there is." Jaune stood up from his bow, "Prettiest too."

Ruby quickly and playfully slugged Jaune, "Shut up with the fake compliments would you?"

Jaune grinned, "Nothing fake about them Ruby."

Ruby's cheeks went a bit red and she began walking away, "C-come on. Let's keep looking."

"Yeah, we have wasted too much time here I guess." Jaune followed beside Ruby again.

Ruby didn't look back at Jaune but nervously rubbed behind her head, "The situation right now is different and all but ordinarily I don't mind wasting time with you. 'Cause you're… The first friend I've ever had…"

Jaune went similarly awkward, "Actually Ruby that's the same thing you are to me."

The two dorks kept strolling down the street without being able to continue their conversation past their heart to heart.

* * *

Yang and Pyrrha strolled along side by side and the blonde who had her hands coolly behind her head aimed her eyes at the defunct looking Pyrrha, "What's wrong with you right now Princess? You look like you're down in the dumps. Is it 'cause the Mistrali has to look for a faunus? I know yall shipped all yours to Menagerie."

Pyrrha waved her hands defensively, "That's not it at all!" she then broke out of the defense and faced Yang with a bit of strength mustered, "I think you know that it was partly what you did that has me like this. After all Weiss already figured that part of me out without me telling her so I'll bet that you did too."

Yang sighed, "Yeah, look Pyrrha it ain't like I have a grudge against you or anything, I'm just trying to look out for what my sister wants."

"And you really think she wants the same thing I do?"

"She might not realize it herself but yeah, I think Ruby has it bad for Jaune."

"I suppose I have to believe you. You seem good at looking for that sort of thing since you figured me out in no time."

"Yup." Yang popped, "I can see through anybody when it comes to this."

Pyrrha stopped and turned towards Yang, "In that case can you see which of us Jaune would pick?"

"Probably whichever one of you got to him first honestly. That boy can get hypnotized just by _looking _at girls but he's too dumb to realize when they're looking at him."

"So if I confess before Ruby does then he'd choose me?"

"What? No! That's not! Pyrrha I swear if you mess with my little sister's feelings…"

"I'm sorry Yang but it isn't her feelings I care about, or even my own. I care about Jaune's."

"Well Jaune can be happy with Ruby, so congratulations Princess you don't need to do anything but wait for her to realize for herself."

"And while we wait for that for who knows how long Jaune stays alone. I want to spare him as much of that loneliness as possible Yang. I want him to know what he's worth."

Yang crossed her arms and unwillingly conceded, "Fine Pyrrha, if you want the goofball to be happy that bad go for it. After all, all's fair." Yang then pointed a finger at Pyrrha, "But don't think I'm ever rooting for you over Ruby."

"Then I guess I just have to accept that."

Yang rolled her eyes and extended her hand, "And don't think just 'cause I'm rooting for my sister with Jaune that I can't be friends with you."

Pyrrha went wide eyed, "Do you really mean that?"

"Obviously!" Yang answered, "After all I've got a soft spot for all you goofballs. Now shake my damn hand so we can seal the deal already!"

Pyrrha grasped Yang's hand with both of her's and sung out, "You won't regret it!"

"Never have never will Princess. Now come on. We got a stray cat to find."

* * *

"Here Blake! Come here girl!" Nora patted her thighs and whistled as she and Ren walked along.

Ren sighed, "Faunus don't come just because you call them like that Nora."

"Well I don't know how else we can find her!"

"Honestly I'm not too sure either. If she was unknown to us all this time then I doubt anyone else here knows her and can tell us where she is."

"You really think we can't even ask if they've seen her?"

"Knowing her skills I doubt any of them have."

"Ugh…" Nora groaned as she kicked a can down the street, "So we're just going to wander around and hope we run into her huh?"

"So it would seem."

Nora grabbed Ren and shook him, "Dammit Ren use your huntsman powers! Sense her aura with your super aura sense or something!"

"I can't sense it if she's suppressing it, which she probably is." Ren explained while being shook.

Nora sighed, "Yeah I know… This sucks Ren! It's never been so hard for us to find people before! First we end up having to fight through an army of thugs just to figure out where the Torchwick gang is and now we're combing through every street in vale to find the girl who can hide from anything!"

"To be fair we haven't gone after anyone this skilled before."

"I thought it would be just like the rebels and bandits when we started this, not some guys who are good enough to go up against huntsmen."

"Those with high prices on their heads are often dangerous to those who hunt them."

Nora stopped and faced Ren, "Should we keep doing this?"

Ren thoughtfully touched his chin, "On the one hand we don't need to bounty hunt to survive now that we've earned a spot in the academy, but on the other hand, our team leader is involved in this. Jaune led us out of death in the jaws of grimm soon after we first met. I believe we owe it to him to help him take on this task."

Nora perked up, "Yeah you're right Ren, besides if we ran away they'd search for us just like our dog faunus friend and haul us back anyway!"

"I believe Weiss said that she was a cat faunus."

Nora inhaled astoundedly, "So _that's _why my whistles didn't work!" Nora grabbed Ren by the collar again, "Ren! We need to go buy some catnip!"

* * *

A black cat strayed through a variety of alleys slowly and stealthily. Her ears lay flattened to her head in an effort to make them less visible. When having made it to a well hidden spot the girl leaned against a wall and slid down into a sitting position. She neither moved nor made noise, merely stared blankly at the wall across from her.

The clacking of heels sounded down the alley Blake had come down and she went tense, looking down that way. Out of that same route stepped a white clad heiress, "Blake. It seems I've found you."

The cat ninja drew her blade and pounced at the ice queen, her slash parried by the wide eyed white heiress' quickly drawn rapier. More slashes were merely parried without being countered until a white glyph forced the black cat backwards. The kunoichi stumbled back from the force and growled at the white mage, "How did you find me?!"

The beast thrust forward and was narrowly deflected into another combination of aggressive slashes, "I tracked your scroll. I thought you might merely have dropped it in this alley as a diversion but I suppose you must not have remembered that I was in charge of location tracking during the infiltration."

Blake went wide eyed at her own mistake for a second before narrowing her eyes again and releasing more thrusts and slices, "And so you decided to come take me down alone?!"

"I'm not here to fight with you!" The heiress cried as she parried, "I'm here to take you back to the team!"

"As though I'd go back to them now that they know!" Blake yelled as she struck, " As though I'd ever trust a human! As though I'd ever trust a Schnee!" Weiss cast a black glyph on Blake but it was the cat girl's clone caught in it rather than the true one who sliced a line down diagonally from left to right, "That won't work on me anymore!"

Weiss' eyes went wide and she leapt back out of the strike before using a heel glyph to re engage, this time more aggressively with her own thrusts. "I don't want a faunus back either," the ice queen retorted, "but without you the rest will abandon me as well! Even I cannot fight these criminals alone! I am forced to reenlist you."

Blake diverted each thrust away from herself and began attempting to counter them, her own counters being reverse countered themselves and so forth, "I have no reason to return to you humans! Now that I'm known you'll do nothing but use me and toss me aside!"

"It is for the good of other faunus that you should!" Weiss answered as she exchanged her strikes with the cat, "I know where Torchwick's next strike will be and your people will be caught in it!"

Blake disengaged from Weiss but stayed in her guard stance with her eyes locked on her opponent just as the ice queen did, "Where… Where is this happening!?"

Weiss relaxed a bit from her combat stance to enter her highborn one, "The SDC's main warehouse on the docks. We employ many of you faunus there. Unless you want Roman Torchwick and his violent thugs to shoot your people to shreds as they rob my family I think you have no choice but to come back to the team."

Blake stood her ground silently as she continued staring down the ice queen who broke not from her own, slightly more relaxed guard. After a tense pause where neither said anything Blake released her breath and sheathed her ninjato, "Fine. I'll do this with you."

Weiss sheathed her own sword, "Good. Let's head back to the rest of them then." Weiss turned and began walking off but she quickly turned again, "Oh and before I forget," the ice queen rummaged in one of her belt's pouches for a bit before pulling out a band of black velvet and presenting it to the feline, "I found a store selling these along the way. I knew you'd wish to be hidden again."

Blake glanced at Weiss then at the ribbon. The beast snatched it from the heiress' hand and began tying it into the bow that hid her ears without a word. The heiress spun again and clacked off in her heels with the stray cat following close behind her with glaring eyes.

* * *

In Beacon there reconvened a group of six students at the appointed time in a dorm room, none of which had found their stray cat. Ruby looked downcast at those she hadn't searched with and sighed, "I guess you guys didn't find Blake either then."

The other pairs shook their heads and Ren answered, "We didn't find even a hint of her. She's skilled at hiding."

Yang slammed her fist down on the desk she sat at, "Dammit! Blake ran away with her sneakiness and Weiss didn't come back here after she bailed on helping find her! How are we supposed to keep going without the Ninja Girl or the plans the Ice Queen found?"

Jaune exhaled gruffly, "We'll just have to look for both of them now I guess…"

Suddenly the door to the room slammed open, "You don't need to look for anyone."

The teams looked over to see Weiss standing in the doorway with Blake behind her. Ruby went extremely surprised, "Weiss!? _You_ found Blake!? _And _you convinced her to come back!?"

Yang cocked an eyebrow, "I thought you said you weren't going to help us find her?"

"_No,_" Weiss dragged out, "I _said_ I was going to have my assigned partner Rose look for Blake without me, which I did merely because I found the red hooded girl annoying."

Yang scoffed, "Wow Ice Queen. I'm surprised a bitch like you managed to convince Blake back without getting another scar."

Weiss narrowed her eyes at Yang, "We did… clash blades a bit, but I was able to parry her off quite effectively!"

Ruby stormed up to the rich girl who flinched a bit, but the red hood merely extended her hand, "Thank you for finding her and coming back to us Weiss."

Weiss was stunned by the rose's sincerity a bit again but she quickly went serious and briefly took the hand to give it a single shake, "Yes, well, as much as I would like to I can't defend my family business without you and you refuse to do it without her. I had no choice but to bring her back so there is really quite little need to thank me."

"Well thanks anyway Ice Queen." Ruby said with a gentle smile before facing Blake who went a bit wide eyed, "Now Blake, I'm glad you came back but why did you run from us?"

Blake averted her gaze from the red hood, "You found out that I was a faunus. My whole goal here has been to avoid being found out and avoid the strife that comes with it."

"Only one of us on our team that'd give you any of that would be the Ice Queen and it looks like she's made a deal against it with you." Yang looked over at JNPR, "Any of yall got beef with the beastmen?"

Jaune shrugged, "Never met one on the farm so I have no idea how they are for myself. All I've heard is stories, some good some bad."

The jade dragon chimed in, "In vacuo there's no faunus against humans. It's always just survival of the fittest."

"I never dealt with any faunus in Mistral either but that is mostly due to them not being there at all…" Pyrrha said but then looked at Blake in her awkward defense, "Oh but I'd never try to treat you badly after all you've done for us!"

Ruby stepped closer to Blake, "And that goes double for me. Since the first day I got here you have looked out for me Blake."

Blake averted her eyes from the younger girl, "I… I don't trust humans, and I don't like them acting as though they trust me. I shouldn't have let you get so close to me just because I helped you on instinct."

Ruby's eyes went hard and she grabbed Blake to force her to look the red hood in the eye, "There are no faunus on Patch either Blake and you weren't a faunus when I met you, but even if you were I'd still have seen you as a friend." Ruby then slid her grip from the shoulders down the arms and took the cat by her paws, "I trust you whether you like it or not."

Yang sighed, "If my little sis wants to give you her trust I'll do the same for now, but remember that I've been looking out for her for a lot longer so I won't be so forgiving next time you pull something like this."

Nora clapped her hands together, "Great! So now everyone is on board with the cat-ninja-lady!" Nora then began rubbing her hands greedily, "Now let's find out what the bad guy's plan is from the Ice Queen, come up with a plan to beat it, and collect that sweet bounty!"

Weiss stepped forward, "Their plan is actually precisely what convinced the faunus to return to the fold, since the next place they will hit employs many of her kind."

"We know their next job?" Jaune perked up and asked.

"The time and place yes," Weiss answered, "but as for their method I've drawn a blank as to how they plan to haul all the dust stores out of the largest SDC warehouse in Vale three days from now without it taking so long they get caught."

Yang stood up, "I bet they can hack their way in to open the loading bay doors. After that they'd just need to load their trucks and leave."

Weiss shook her head, "Those loading bays can't handle enough trucks simultaneously to make the operation go quickly enough even if they fully shut off the police alert system. Someone would likely call in to the police individually and they'd respond before that. They must know and have some way around that though."

"Whatever their way around the police is they don't have a way around us." Jaune said, "With Weiss we can access the warehouse ourselves to lie in wait for them. As soon as they spring their heist we can spring our trap."

Ruby nodded, "I agree. This is clearly their biggest and riskiest plan yet. If we can put even a little hitch in it it might be enough to finally take them down." Ruby extended her hand with the palm facing downwards, "Is everyone in?"

Jaune was the first to place his hand on Ruby's, "You'll always have my sword."

Pyrrha's hand followed quickly onto Jaune's, "And my spear!"

Nora grabbed Ren by his hand and slapped both his and hers down on top of the others, "And me and Ren's big hammer and guns!"

Yang slapped her palm down, "Always ready to crack a few skulls with you guys!"

Everyone looked over at Blake and Weiss. Weiss rolled her eyes, "Ugh. Must I?" Everyone just kept staring, "Fine." Weiss slapped her hand on the pile and looked back to Blake, "Come on Miss Faunus, let's get this over with."

Blake approached cautiously and lay her hand gently atop the others. Ruby cheered, "Aw yeah! We finally got the band back together! Time to hit Roman Torchwick where it hurts!"

Everyone raised their hands to cheer Ruby's words with a shout of "Oorah!"

Jaune stretched and yawned then came back to his pose, "Yeah, but before that I'm going to bed. Clubbing, fighting, and searching all night has really worn me out."

"Same," Nora moaned, "Come on Ren let's brush your hair."

Ren sighed and followed behind Nora and Jaune as they exited the room, Pyrrha left last and sang as she slowly shut the door, "Good night team RWBY!"

"'Night princess, don't let the bed bugs bite." Yang said back.

Weiss looked around a bit, "Well I suppose we should go to bed as well."

"Yeah…" Ruby said.

"Yes." Blake agreed. The team doffed their outfits and donned their pyjamas, climbing into the bunk beds after all the additional preparations were carried out. Blake pulled the ribbon from the top of her head and looked at it, "Don't need to sleep with this on anymore I guess." She put it in the drawer of the nightstand and reached for the switch to turn the lamp off but before she did she paused and looked over at the heiress, "Weiss."

The white haired girl looked over to Blake surprised, "What?"

"I need to correct you."

Weiss rolled her eyes, "About your kind?"

"No, about my surname."

"Huh?"

"I'm not Miss Faunus. I'm Miss Belladonna." And with that Blake flipped the light off and the room went just as black as her.


	15. Volume 1 Chapter 15: The Heist Part 1

Teams RWBY and JNPR approached the blue SDC warehouse with it's huge white insignia together, this time under no guise. Their armored or agile combat outfits made their role as huntsmen more than obvious. As they approached the door with its keycard lock Weiss produced her company ID and slid it in, unlocking the door with a beep and a click. Right as she placed her hand on the handle to open it Jaune stopped her by placing his hand on hers. The leader of JNPR looked back at the rest of the warriors, "Once we're in there we'll find a spot to hide for our counterattack. If all eight of us stick together they won't be able to take us on like they did on their home turf."

The others nodded at Jaune and the paladin nodded back, pressing down on the door handle to open it once more. As the teams went into a short corridor Blake glared a bit at the ice queen. Weiss noticed and looked askance at the black cat, "What?"

"Did you get the workers to abandon this place tonight?" the kunoichi asked.

"I tried but…" The heiress started. The cat glared harder and Weiss went defensive, "This is the center of our exports to Vale Belladonna! If we shut it down, even for one night, it will cost us too much. Even _I _don't have enough clout in the company to close this place because of some robbery we don't have much evidence to prove will happen…"

Blake growled a bit at the heiress, "So we're just going to leave the faunus in the way of the guns?!"

Ruby immediately grabbed Blake by the shoulder, "If Weiss couldn't get them out then none of us could Blake, we'll just have to fight extra hard to keep them safe."

Jaune looked back over his shoulder at the cat, "Ruby's right Blake, and besides, it's the night shift with less workers on duty and we know which way the thieves are going to have to come in from. We can easily stand between them."

"I am still unsure about the loading bay." Weiss said with her hand to her chin.

Yang with her hands behind her head as she walked in a relaxed manner chimed in, "Maybe they only plan to steal part of the shop instead of the whole thing, after all one truck's worth of dust is like an entire shop's worth and they can pull up ten of those things to this place."

"It would be the safest method for them to leave behind most and only take the fraction that they can acquire quickly." Ren agreed.

"Good thing we're here to slow em down!" Nora boasted.

The teams got to the end of the corridor and opened up the double doors which led to a maze of SDC shipping containers stacked atop each other. The eyes of most of the teens aside from the white clad girl widened a bit at the huge interior. Yang came up alongside the heiress, "Damn Weiss, it looked way smaller from the outside…"

The heiress rolled her eyes, "Let's all just take up those positions already."

"And let's try to be stealthy about it," Jaune cautioned, "we don't want the alarms to go off because of us instead of the gangsters."

"I do prefer stealth but I doubt the alarms will be going off at all tonight." Ren said.

"Still lets just try to lay low." Jaune said and the rest nodded. The teens made their way through the dark maze of boxes, peeking around each corner to ensure they didn't run into anyone who would become alarmed by their presence.

Eventually the loading bays came into view. Ruby and Jaune halted in front of the teams and Ruby addressed them quietly, "Ok guys, let's split into pairs and get hidden around here. The gangsters are probably gonna come at this place with everything they have, so we need to be ready. Weiss did you find out the exact time they were going to get here?"

"They had it scheduled for about an hour from now, but who knows? They may have changed the timetable after our assault on their hideout." The white heiress answered.

"No way of knowing now," Jaune said, "we just need to be ready for anything. Let's break into our pairs and take up some hidden positions."

Everyone on Jaune's team nodded but Ruby's team had a bit more confusion to it. Yang broke up the silent lack of planning, "So… Are we just going to do the same pairs from the club?"

Weiss' eyes narrowed, "Considering what happened there, I doubt that would be a good idea."

Ruby sighed, "Fine, Yang you go with Weiss and I'll go with Blake." Ruby then turned to Jaune, "My team will take the left while yours takes the right."

Jaune nodded and his team as well as Yang and Weiss started off but Jaune stayed a bit and put his hand on Ruby's shoulder, "Stay safe Ruby."

Ruby put her hand atop Jaune's, "You do the same."

Jaune grinned and pointed a thumb at himself, "Well if we end up setting the warehouse on fire like the forest and the club I can always run my way out."

Ruby rolled her eyes and turned away from Jaune, joining up with Blake as the other team went away. The black cat stared at Ruby a bit and Ruby caught notice of it, "What?"

"Nothing." Blake said, "I just thought for a second that maybe Yang was right about you two."

Ruby groaned, "Really? You too now?"

"Perhaps you're just setting off my instincts again." Blake said with a bit of a small smile.

Ruby rolled her eyes once more, "Let's just get somewhere hidden, ok?"

Ruby leapt up onto the shipping containers and Blake followed her.

* * *

Yang and Weiss stalked through the warehouse stealthily to get to their position. Yang looked askance at the heiress as they stepped around quietly, "How is it you can wear those heels and not make any noise in them?"

"Have you ever thought that perhaps I am simply that skilled?" Weiss answered sarcastically only to be met with crossed arms and a cocked brow, "Ugh. They are designed specially for combat. There, are you satisfied?"

A smirk played on Yang's face, "You have combat heels? What are there some blades that pop out of those things or something? Gonna cut somebody with a pirouette maybe?"

Weiss eyes narrowed, "Would you like to test that theory on your mane miss hair for brains?"

Yang defensively grabbed her golden locks, "Hey, no cutting my hair ok? I work really hard to keep it this long."

"Perhaps a braid or a _ponytail_ would be a wiser way of keeping it safe then."

"Sorry Ice Queen, but you can't keep the lion in a cage, you gotta let it roam free!"

"Ugh." Weiss rolled her eyes, "You are one of the least civilized people I have ever met, even counting Rose. I don't know how you sisters ended up being so different from one another."

"What? You got your own sister or something?"

"I do, an older and far more mature and disciplined one than you."

"Does she look out for you like I look out for Ruby?" Yang asked sincerely.

"No. I don't require such supervision like Rose does and she is far too busy for that anyway." Weiss answered back flatly.

"Guess the Ice Queen grew up in a cold house, huh?"

"Schnee manor is perfectly climatized year round."

Yang smirked, "Not what I meant Weiss."

Weiss shot Yang another flat look, "I knew exactly what you meant."

Weiss turned her gaze away from the golden mane who went a bit surprised at the retort and the two made their way to the position which overlooked the loading bays.

* * *

Nora and Ren crouched hidden just below the rafters of the warehouse with their artillery pieces trained upon the doors to the loading bay. A few of the faunus workers seemed to mill about the loading area. Given that they were not actually loading or unloading anything but merely doing sight counts of the inventory the night shift seemed pretty skate. Nora pouted and whispered, "Dammit Ren when are these guys gonna show up? I'm tired of waiting here like this."

"We have no way of knowing Nora. Our only option is to stay on the lookout."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but it's still boring."

Ren patted Nora a couple of times on the shoulder then held his ear, "Jaune, have you seen any signs of the enemy? Over."

The blonde boy answered the call, "None yet Ren. Over."

"Very well. Out."

Jaune turned towards Pyrrha, "You ready for this fight?"

"I'm always ready to fight Jaune, though admittedly those twins we went up against before were far more difficult to take on than I had expected."

"I already know what to do with them, their semblance works if they're right next to each other but if we can split them up then they should be way more vulnerable without being able to watch each other's backs."

"And how will we do that?" Pyrrha asked sincerely.

"That… I'm not so sure about." Jaune said sagging his shoulders. The boy then shrugged, "I think we'll probably have to wing it."

Pyrrha forced a smile and placed a hand on the farm boy's shoulder, "I'm... sure that you can come up with something now that you know what we are dealing with."

Suddenly the sound of thunder blasted forth and the entire building shook. Jaune and Pyrrha were knocked down from the quake along with all the employees and their ears rang from the sound. The two quickly stood and looked up to see the entire roof of the building moving. The roof gave way to the night sky and a group of hovering airships over top let down groups of cables just as the doors to the loading bays were forced open and many thugs ran in. Jaune's ears stopped ringing and he armed himself with his sword and shield, "Guess they have more than just trucks!" Jaune pressed his ear, "Ruby!"

The red hood stood atop the tower of shipping containers alongside the black cat and responded, "I see it Jaune, you guys handle the ones on the ground while we hit the ones in the air! Yang, Weiss! Join up with me and Blake up top!"

"Solid copy Ruby!" Jaune turned towards the war maiden, "Did you get that Pyrrha?" The warrior princess nodded quickly and Jaune carried on, "Good! Then let's deal with these guys so they hit the workers or load the boxes!"

The thugs saw the faunus workers who stood stock still in shock at the siege and raised their smgs in a clear aim. But just they unleashed a barrage two shields, one white and one bronze, appeared in the way of their fire. The frozen faunus thawed out at their rescue and ran away from the gun line. The gunmen themselves hesitated a bit at seeing the two warriors but began to try firing again but it was too late. Capitalizing on their surprise entrance the two heroes lanced forward into the ranks of their foes and began bashing, slashing, and stabbing through them in a harmful but nonlethal manner.

Roman Torchwick stood in the open doors of an airship looking down upon the maze of Schnee shipments with his assistant Neo next to him when a voice rang in his ear, "Boss! Those huntsmen are here! They're taking out some of our guys!"

Roman scowled and looked from his vantage point to see if he could locate his enemies, which he did. Jaune and Pyrrha were in a brawl with his ground forces while Nora and Ren were in a gunfight against some. Meanwhile atop some boxes were Ruby and Blake and down slightly below them were Yang and Weiss who were running over to join up with the other half of their team. Roman turned to his attache, "Neo, go down and deal with those for me would you?" The silent secretary noted the team RWBY Roman pointed at, nodded with a smile, and hopped out of the aircraft. Roman touched his ear again, "Junior, I need you and the twins to come in here and help the boys mop up these huntsmen asap. We're on a tight schedule here."

"Copy Boss." Roman heard from a deep voice that came through his headset.

Blake turned towards Ruby, "How are we supposed to get up to those ships?"

"I can do it with my semblance," the red hood replied, "I think Weiss can too. We'll hop up to them and force them to land." Just then a small figure fell from the sky and created a clanging noise on contact with the box Ruby and Blake stood on. Neo stood from the crouch that had absorbed the impact of the drop and bowed theatrically towards the girls. Ruby stared at the opponent and awkwardly adjusted her plans, "And I guess while Weiss and I handle the aircraft you and Yang can handle… whoever this is."

Neo began stalking forward with a sadistic grin on her face and Blake went a bit wide eyed as she drew her sword and went on the defense, "You've never had to face her before. She might be too sly even if we take her two on one."

Neo didn't bother lunging or anything as she continued her casual stroll up to the girls. Yang and Weiss hopped up to where the other two were. Yang saw the small girl and her eyes went red, "Neo!" The golden mane looked over to Ruby, "Rubes, stand back, that one's dangerous!"

Ruby looked back at Yang, "I'll be fine, you and Blake fought her before so it's up to you two to handle her now." Ruby then glanced over to Weiss, "Weiss, can your semblance get you up to those ships?"

Weiss looked up to judge the difference in positions and nodded, "I can reach them from here."

"Good," Ruby said, "Let's go bring them down then!"

Weiss nodded and a glyph appeared below her feet and propelled her up to the nearest craft. Ruby joined her with a jet of rose petals. Yang stood alongside Blake as Neo merely stood where she was. Yang went a bit more crimson eyed at the lack of movement, "Well Ice Cream Cone?! You gonna take us on or just stand around?!" The right hand of Roman stood casually where she was at with her smile still present and Yang growled, "Fine! If you won't then I will!"

"Yang wait!" Blake shouted at the other girl but it was too late, Yang swung at the motionless Neo's face and it shattered into a thousand pieces beneath her fist. An unsheathing noise sounded behind Yang and a blade nearly made its way down on her before she was able to spin and deflect it off one of her vambraces. Yang stumbled back a bit but Neo let her without capitalizing on it. The obvious toying tactic angered Yang further and the brawler rushed towards Neo without hesitating, throwing several punches that landed on nought but the air. Blake gritted her teeth, "Dammit!" The cat shook her head and joined the assault to assist Yang.

Blake's blade touched nothing. Even the secretary's umbrella parried nothing, she simply dodged everything as though the fight was a mere dance. The golden mane roared between her blows, "How! The hell! Does she! Keep dodging!"

"It must be her aura sense!" Blake cried out, "It's even better than Ren's! She'll only strike a perfect opening!"

Yang grinned like a wolf, "An opening huh?" The blonde disengaged the half brunette, "Follow me ninja girl!"

The golden lioness leapt off the top of the crates and down into their maze. A confused look played across the faces of both the kunoichi and right hand crook, but the black cat followed immediately as she was told and the small parasolist started after her as well.

* * *

Ren and Nora rained bullets and bombs down on the thugs from their vantage atop the container among the now removed rafters. With the arcs of Nora's launcher and their silhouette covered from below they were quite well positioned against the smg wielding bandits. A giant stepped boldly out from behind his line of minions, one of whom worried for him for his lack of cover, "Boss! Watch out, they've got the high ground on us!"

"Not for long they don't." Junior's kanabo converted into its rpg form.

"Boss no! That container they're on is full of dust!" The grunt said as he grabbed Junior.

Junior shook off the goon's hand, "We can afford to lose one blown up box out of the hundred we'll take home!"

With that the goliath fired his rocket. Ren saw the incoming impact and reacted fast thanks to his senses. He grabbed Nora by the waist and leapt off the tower of boxes with her to get behind it just as the one he was on exploded into a castle of solid ice. Junior pointed commandingly in the general direction of his foes, "Swarm back there and kill them!"

The thugs hesitated a bit but charged forward towards the maze regardless, though just as they did a burst of mist issued forth from it. The cacophony of random fire and grunts being knocked out began again just as Junior had seen before. This time though he had another ploy up his sleeve, "You think that'll work on me this time just because there's no sprinklers Ren?! Well guess again! I know about construct types, yours is disrupted by climate instead of contact like a normal one, but aura can disrupt any of them!"

With that Junior's club glowed with a field of red power. The bartender brought it into a horizontally trailing guard position and swung sideways with it, unleashing the broad force of that crimson field into the cloud of fog. Shenlong's Mist was blown away by the projection technique and Lie Ren, who was revealed to be directly in front of Junior standing among his downed troops, stumbled back from the impact of the push. Junior looked a bit confused at the de-camouflaged enemy, "Where the hell's your girlfriend Ren? Don't tell me she's the one playing the sneak now instead of you!"

"My _friend _Nora is in the container maze dealing with your men. I'm afraid you'll have to settle for me." The jade dragon responded calmly as he stood straight and proud before the man who was double his size.

A grin and growl passed over Junior's lips, "Ha! Fine bug! I'll crush your grasshopper ass first and then move on to that party girl of yours!"

Ren said nothing and merely extended his unarmed hand towards the brute with his palm raised up and brought his fingers back, beckoning the giant forward. Junior roared at the sight of his weak enemy's confidence and charged forward, bringing his club down in an overhead smash. Ren dodged to the side of the telegraphed strike and Junior used his obvious feint to give the two punch, or in this case a kick which swept from the side Ren had dodged towards. The jade dragon had expected this though and leapt above the leg, which missed him completely.

The missed blow's momentum brought Junior off balance a bit and Ren capitalized with palm strike to the giant's back. A pulse of green energy surged through the giant's back and pushed him into a wall of containers from which he immediately turned back towards the green clad man, "So… Not just a gunsword slinger but a wu xia too huh?"

"A master of neither actually, but, as you said, aura disrupts aura. I need to thank you for giving me the idea to use my palm strike against you until I've stripped you of your spirit armor."

Junior stood taller away from his back on the wall position, "Well sorry champ but I'm afraid that now that I know your style I'll just keep you at a safe distance. After all I outreach you anyway."

"With the palms and blades? Yes." Ren then quickly drew his liu ye dao from their shared sheath and flicked them into their pistol mode, "My reach is quite further with the bullets though." A hail of fire began falling on Junior who charged forward through it, disregarding the portion of the barrage from the inaccurate weapons that actually hit him and which rippled through his aura with lightning.

"Lightning dust rounds huh?! Nice new trick but it won't work on a tank!" Junior said as he quickly closed the gap and Ren's guns clicked dry.

"These were a gift from Weiss." Ren said as he dodged strikes while reloading.

"Well you just wasted your gift then! Half those rounds didn't even touch me!"

"I wasn't aiming just at you."

"What?" As Junior queried a silver maul collided with the side of his skull and sent him crashing into the side of yet another crate. Junior opened his eyes as his aura flickered out and he lounged in the huge dent his body had made in the crate to see two teens standing over him. The heart chested hammer wielder grinned as pink sparks flickered across her body and electrical power seemed to emanate from her.

The jade dragon spoke up, "I apologize for lying to you about using Nora as the ambusher this time. Thank you for falling for it though. Here." Ren grabbed a pair of handcuffs from his pocket and tossed them onto Junior, "I'd advise you put these on before we shoot you without your aura shield active." Junior growled a bit at the jade dragon and Ren merely cocked his eyebrow along with the hammer of pistol he had pointed at the bartender, at which point the giant's shoulders sagged and he donned the bracelets that had been provided to him. Ren pointed his gun to the sky instead of at Junior, "Thank you Junior. Nora?"

"Got it Ren!" The hammer wielder grinned and swung her silver maul at the giant, hitting him in the head with force that knocked him out.

* * *

The paladin and princess formed a makeshift shield wall to charge through the narrow corridors of the shipping labyrinth, bashing, slashing, or piercing through the thugs in their way. After working their way through many they stopped. At the end of the particularly long corridor they found themselves in a red figure stood. The crimson club girl posed with a hand to her hip with a bored face, "Oh great. It's you guys again. You know you're permabanned from the club now right?"

Jaune went a bit annoyed at the greeting, "What the!? We aren't even at the club right now and you guys are the ones robbing this place!"

"Whatever. Hey Mel!" The red diva called out towards the area behind the warriors.

"Yeah Miltia?" The warriors looked behind themselves to see a white garbed woman in her own exasperated pose answering the call.

"Let's deal with these weirdos so we can get out of this dump."

"Sure thing." The heels of both girls began clacking forward towards the middle of the narrow corridor.

Jaune and Pyrrha took position back to back with each other. Jaune kept his eyes focused on Miltia in front of him while whispering to Pyrrha, "Remember what we talked about Pyrrha, we just need to separate these two to beat them."

"Yes but we still haven't come up with some way to do that." Pyrrha whispered back.

Jaune smirked, "Well actually I was thinking back to our last fight with them and I think at least you might have a way to _pull _them apart."

"Jaune? Did you figure out my?..." In an interruption of the warrior princess the two bouncer maids surged forward towards the fortress of shields. Red claws struck from above at the paladin and white heels from below at the princess. Jaune's shield rose and Pyrrha's fell only for a leg to rise over Pyrrha's shoulder and strike the farm boy's head and red claws to go below Jaune's arm and slash the princess's thigh. Aura flickered on both warriors but Pyrrha grinned, "I'm ready now Jaune!"

"Good, get up on top!" The farm boy yelled back. Pyrrha nodded and leapt back and forth between the walls of the hall to the top of the boxes.

"Ugh. Really?" Melanie asked disgustedly at Jaune.

"Like, you know we can easily beat you if you're by yourself right?" Miltia finished as she swung a slash at the boy.

Jaune didn't even bother reacting to the cut that halted just short of his face with a bronze glow to it. Jaune smirked at the red clad girl, "Yeah I know, but I'm afraid you aren't gonna be sticking around to face me two on one."

Miltia went wide eyed at the halt for a moment before she was yanked by her arms up to the top of the walls. Melanie went surprised as well, "Miltia!"

A shield bashed into the back of the head of the white diva as she paid attention to her sister's abduction, sending her sprawling onto the deck.

The girl turned around in her prone position to receive a sword's tip at her throat. Jaune gazed down on the diva with steel eyes, "I think you oughta give up now."

The lady in white turned her hips and batted away the blade with a kick, using the momentum to rise into a stance and another, higher placed kick. She shouted, "If you think I'm gonna let you take Miltia!..."

Jaune merely batted away the kick with his shield and then struck the woman down with a pommel to her head, leaving her dazed on her knees. Jaune looked down at Melanie with an inquisitive gaze, "Wow. This is even easier than I expected. You really can't do anything at all on your own can you?"

Melanie shook from her daze and looked up at him frustrated, "Shut up you… you…"

Jaune tossed some cuffs in front of the kneeling girl, "Look just put those on wouldja? I really gotta get back to my pal up there and I can't waste much more time with you."

The wench pouted and donned the restraints of her obviously superior opponent.

Meanwhile up on top of the shipping containers Pyrrha magnetically reeled in a red fish that she bashed with her shield, causing it to roll across the top of her shipping container into a sitting position. Pyrrha held ready a spear and shield against her yanked in foe in red and tensed for a pitched battle. The crimson clad woman across from her merely stayed sat down, put her hands up, and sighed, "I give up."

Pyrrha went slightly wide eyed at the surrender and slightly relaxed her stance, "Uh… Are you certain?"

"Yeah, you got my claws magnetized and my sister somewhere else so there's no way for me to win. You got me."

Pyrrha completely relaxed her guard but stayed away, "This isn't some trick is it? You aren't going to try to attack me off guard are you?"

Another sigh came from Miltia, "No, now just tie me up or whatever you were going to do." Pyrrha strapped her shield to her back but left her spear out as she pulled out a pair of cuffs and began edging towards Miltia. Miltia stood and put her arms out in front of her parallel to each other and tapped her foot impatiently as the redhead made her way up slowly, "Any day now…"

Pyrrha snapped at the girl, "I'm coming!"

The redhead shortened her spear to a sword when she got close and kept it's tip towards Miltia as she put the cuffs on the girl. Miltia raised her cuffed arms into Pyrrha's view and wiggled her fingers, "See? You win now."

Pyrrha breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank god…" The warrior princess then without warning pommelled the red diva in the head, knocking her out. Pyrrha smiled, sheathed her sword, dusted her hands, and put them on her hips triumphantly, "Well that was remarkably easy!" She then entered her sing song voice, "Now back to Jaune!"

The warrior princess skipped a bit merrily off the edge of the shipping container.


	16. Volume 1 Chapter 16: The Heist Part 2

The pole of a scythe pounded its way through several troops in the passenger chamber of an airship. The close quarters made it difficult to wield a large weapon but the seatbelts the troops were forced to fiddle with made it harder to get out of the way of being knocked out. Ruby put down the grunts and moved on to the pilot's cabin, raising her polearm threateningly against the man who had to keep hold of the controls, "Put the ship down!"

"I can't do that!" The thug pilot shouted back!

"Put it down or I'll knock you out and do it myself!"

"Are you nuts?! You can't fly these things!"

"Do you wanna risk me crashing it with you still inside or do you wanna land safely?! Your choice bad guy!" The minion hesitated for a second before lowering the ship down into a landing spot just outside the warehouse. Ruby stood proud and then grabbed the goon's hands and cuffed them behind his seat, "Ok, now you wait here for the cops." The thug's head hung defeated and Ruby made her way out of the vessel and looked back up at the small fleet. The red hood put a hand to her ear, "Weiss, are you about done with that one? Over."

A jet of flame burst out of the crew compartment of one of the craft. "This one is nearly done Rose, but I still haven't found the leader. Over"

Ruby glanced around at the few airships still operating over the warehouse. She spied one which hadn't attempted to lower cables and seemed to merely hover at a slightly higher altitude, as though it were little more than a mere viewing platform. The Rose activated her comms again, "Weiss! The one in the middle over top of the others, do you see it? Over."

A short pause occurred before there was a response, "I see it Rose. You think that is where Torchwick is? Over."

"It's gotta be." Ruby answered, "He hasn't been on the ground and he's the leader. He probably wants to watch from up high. Think you can make it over to him from where you're at? Over."

Another pause occurred, "Yes, I'll have the pilot of this one fly me over to board it. Can you reach it from the ground? Over."

Ruby smirked, "Remnant is the heaviest thing there is, if I push against it I can jump as high as I want without using up much aura at all! Over."

"Very well Rose. I shall go in from the left, you jump in from the right. We will finally have him cornered. Over."

"Alright then, let's take this guy down. Over." Ruby propelled herself up atop the now deroofed wall of the warehouse, then adjusted her body's aim to be perfectly in line with the doors to the top airship's crew cab. With a blast of rose petals she rocketed forth to face the enemy she hoped to find in the sky.

* * *

Yang and Blake occupied the maze of containers they had jumped down into while faced off against Neo. Blake kept her focus on the right hand of Roman while addressing Yang, "Why are we just standing off down here now? I thought we were running away to try to lose her."

Yang cracked her knuckles and her neck, "Only way we can lose her is by making her lose, and she's so good that the only way to do that is to get every advantage we can over her."

"And exactly what advantages do we have down here?"

"_We_? None." Yang grinned, "_You_ on the other hand have places to hide. You can't fight straight up and I can't do it dirty, so I'll have to be the bait and you'll have to be the hook."

"Could you maybe be more specific about this? Like where I should hide and when and how I should strike?"

"Nope!" Yang popped, "That's the best I've got, you'll need to figure out the rest on the fly! Now let's hit it!"

With that the golden mane rushed forward towards the right hand of Roman. Blake growled a bit but shook her head and looked around the battlefield for a proper vantage point to occupy as Yang had said. The black cat found what she was looking for and leapt into the shadows of the boxes. Yang herself engaged Neo as she had been before, but this time with her wolf grin at full bore. The aggressive punches kept being continuously dodged so Yang started going a bit experimental. First she threw a feint but her enemy didn't bother flinching at it before the two punch which was actually dodged. Yang thought back to Blake's analysis of Neo's style and began leaving some false openings, but her act was not subtle enough and Neo did not fall for it.

A small clash led to a backstep from Neo that put her out of Yang's reach, but Yang didn't press, rather she unleashed shotgun blasts from both fists towards the petite woman. The pink and brunette headed girl extended her parasol into a shield from the shots and Yang's wolf grin bared her fangs in what was nearly a pant for blood, "Now Blake!"

A blur of shadow burst forth from the greater ones surrounding it and dove towards Neo like a black falcon from on high. A small gasp issued forth from the mute who drew the sword concealed in her umbrella to parry the incoming slash from a black ninjato, but as soon as her blade touched that of the cat ninja the entire girl vanished, only to reveal the blade of a black windmill flying in from right behind her. The cyclone of a shuriken struck right into the mismatched eyes of the minion which it would have sliced into had it not been for the shield of aura put up against it. As such though it was deflected away carrying a chunk of its target's aura with it as the target herself stumbled back a bit from the impact.

As the black star was reeled back to the darkness by a black ribbon the blonde bombshell rushed forth and skidded to a halt to intercept the stumble with a fist to the back of the secretary's head. Neo sensed the incoming strike and unlocked her knees to fall into a roll that ducked it and put her kneeling behind the golden mane. The right hand of Roman pointed the parasol in her left at the blonde's back and blasted shotgun pellets into it. This pushed Yang into her own forward roll which she used to quickly turn standing up with her face to her foe and a golden glow emanating from her body. Neo kept firing but Yang zigzagged forward dodging the shots faster than she had been before.

Yang closed with Neo and began her flurry of blows yet again, with them being dodged once more, but this time Neo began countering rather than purely avoiding and Yang was forced to parry some strikes with her vambraces. Yang's crimson eyes locked onto Neo's mismatched ones, "Finally quit toying around for the perfect opening and decided to start going for all of them, huh? Guess we finally got ourselves a real fight! Of course you'd better remember that even though it looks one on one you're actually outnumbered."

The mismatched eyes narrowed at Yang as a glint of yellow eyes shone briefly in the shadows behind her. Neo adjusted into a guard with her sword and parrying implement of an umbrella rather than returning to her previously casual and teasing stance. Yang's grin went wide and her aura's glow flared a bit before she shot in like a thunderbolt to engage the assistant boss yet again.

* * *

Jaune and Pyrrha emerged into the loading bay again having to fight through a few thugs along the way. They looked across the more open area and spied Ren and Nora over on the other side taking on thugs of their own. The white knight and the warrior princess held up their shields as mobile cover and ran over to the two other members of their team. Jaune ducked into the same cover Ren used as the jade dragon provided fire against the subgunners who fired at them, "Ren are you and Nora ok?"

The gunswordslinger kept his eyes on the situation and unleashed some retaliatory bursts intermittently from cover, "We dealt with one of the leaders but there are still many of them left. I'm already running low on ammunition. I'm not sure we can handle this many."

Jaune looked carefully out onto the battlefield and where the various gangsters were set up, "They're too well spread for Nora's grenades and I don't have anything ranged myself. But if we could get close they probably wouldn't be able to deal with us. Could you use your mist?"

Ren shook his head, "I don't have enough aura left for a cloud that large."

Jaune thought for another second, "Then we'll need to lure them in close. Team!" The rest of Team JNPR had their attention caught by Jaune, "We're gonna fall back into the containers and take guys out when they get close enough. There's not enough of us to do it by sticking together so we'll have to divide up and do it solo."

"What?!" Pyrrha said shocked, "Jaune you said we couldn't leave each other alone."

"There's too many Pyrrha, if we don't split up we'll get surrounded."

"I won't leave you alone Jaune." Pyrrha said with steel eyes.

"I'm not saying risk ourselves Pyrrha! If we lure them into the branching paths we can pick them off one by one when we get good openings and then immediately retreat again. It'll take a while but we might be able to mill through them like that without getting taken out." Pyrrha's gaze didn't become any softer at Jaune's tactical words and the paladin sighed, "I'll make sure to come find you or call for help if things get out of hand for me, ok?"

Pyrrha finally wavered, "I… Ok Jaune. I trust you, but you had better come back to me if it looks like you need even a little help."

Jaune put on a falsely confident grin, "Of course I will Pyrrha, so, is everyone ready?" Everyone nodded. "Alright then, meet back here once you all think you're done. Break!"

Jaune's team each went solo, running through the boxes and splitting along four paths with the now unsuppressed gang members storming in after them and splitting into smaller teams themselves. As some rounded corners they met the weapons that lurked right around them before striking and bounding away. Some who were bringing up the rear of their fireteam were struck down from behind and when the rest of their team turned at the sound they found nobody there. Some were shot from the shadows by well placed pistol and rifle rounds. In such a way were the forces of Roman whittled down slowly.

At least on three of such fronts. Jaune himself was in a bit more of a predicament. Neither stealth nor range was available to the armored paladin armed only with a sword and shield. And so the white knight fled through the boxes as he collected shots on his shield and breastplate. Jaune took careful cover behind a box only to have another team coming down a different route see him from a perfect angle to take fire upon him, causing him to need to continue fleeing once more. Jaune found a thin crevice as he fled and immediately slipped into the shadows within it.

Both teams of goons passed right by Jaune's hiding place without noticing him. Jaune breathed heavily and reached up towards the comm piece in his ear but paused. The swordsman lowered his hand and whispered at himself through gritted teeth, "If you ask for her help every time you'll never get good enough to be a real huntsman dammit."

Jaune tightened his grips, hopped nimbly up and down to warm up, and shot out of the crevice directly at those who had just passed him. The boot stomps that sounded like thunder behind the thugs immediately had them turn and unleash bursts of gunfire, but Jaune lucked out by being missed by those first sprays. The grunts adjusted their aim but Jaune's lack of even slight pause let him close with them and smash the first's face with his shield. The second bore a muzzle on him to meet with the pommel of his arming sword. The third swung a stock at the boy's side, smashing him in the breastplate and eliciting a somewhat pained grunt from him as his aura broke that led to a downing slash from crocea mors. The fourth unleashed fire at the full cyclic rate into the upraised shield of the paladin which continued charging forward until it toppled the fourth over and Jaune stomped his head with the heel of his boot.

The fifth's muzzle was batted back off target with a slash that spun him enough to leave his back open to receive a new scar. The sixth and seventh charged at the same time with their stocks poised to strike. The sixth's stock collided with a shield but the seventh's hit a blonde head that was knocked to the side. The blonde looked back at his strikers with a glare and gritted teeth as his mop seeped crimson liquid down into his right eye and they paused, a bit intimidated. Jaune capitalized on their freeze with a bash from his shield on the sixth and an overhead pommel to the seventh. The eighth looked in terror at the bloody knight and attempted to shoot only to hear a click. Jaune transitioned his sword and shield into their claymore mode, flipped the sword in the air and grasped it by its blade, and swung the pommel down in a ferocious mordhau, causing the criminal to crumble before him.

Jaune stood over the groaning and unconscious bodies as he inhaled and exhaled like a ragged hound. The boy caught his breath back and wiped blood from his eye before slowly walking back to his rendezvous point.

* * *

Torchwick himself stood up in the open doors of his observational airship gritting his teeth at the scene that played out below him. The thief brought a hand to his ear, "Dammit what's going on down there? Why haven't you dealt with them yet? Junior, Melanie, Miltia! Someone with an actual voice answer me already!"

At that precise moment a trail of rose petals appeared in the wake of a red blur that shot through the sky into Roman's crew compartment. Before the master thief stood the red hooded girl who pointed the muzzle of her rifle-scythe at him, "The jig is up Roman!"

All of a sudden another of Roman's vessels pulled up alongside the one he was in and from it into his leapt a woman in white. The owner of Roman's robbery target raised a rapier at him, "Put your ship down now Torchwick."

Roman glanced around at the two girls holding him at gun and sword point. The master thief started to grit his teeth a bit but quickly calmed and chuckled, "Well girls, looks like you got me dead to rights. Unfortunately though I can't really put this ship down, so I'll tell you what. Instead of putting the _ship_ down, how about I put both of you down?!"

With that the criminal's downward pointed cane clicked and the crew compartment filled with a cloud of smoke. Ruby pulled her rifle's trigger immediately and shot a hole through the black cloud, only to take a blow to the head shortly after. The air current blowing through the vessel cleared the smoke for Weiss only for her to be shot with an explosive flare and knocked against one of the walls of the cabin. Ruby sprang to her feet only to have them knocked out from under her and her face slammed to the floor. Weiss got her back off the wall and thrust forward at the thief only for him to parry and close distance with her. Once inside her reach the rapier was useless since all its offense was carried in its point. The boss battered the heiress with several blows from the cane he now used two handed and close in.

Ruby got up again and hooked her scythe's blade between Roman and Weiss, preparing for a rake slash, but Roman reacted by catching the rear pulled blade on the middle of his fore and aft gripped cane and pushing forward. Roman's strength was greater than Ruby's and the girl's face was yanked forward into the elbow the master thief sent to his rear. Weiss back stepped and thrust again at this opportunity only for her thrust to be dodged and Roman to hook her by the ankle and trip her. Once the heiress was down Roman stomped at her, but she rolled out of the way and blasted a bolt of ice towards him. Roman caught the bolt on the end of his cane and brought the newly created frost mace down on the ice queen's head, shattering both the crystalized water and the aura of the one named after it.

Roman flipped his cane in hand and aimed the muzzle of its gun at the heiress' head. Weiss looked up wide eyed at the lethal shot now poised upon her. Roman grinned like a wolf, "Looks like it's the end of the line Ice Queen!"

Ruby saw the execution that was about to take place and went wide eyed herself, "Weiss!"

The red hood shot herself forward in a storm of rose petals and pushed Weiss out of the way of the shotgun blast Roman unleashed, taking it to herself instead. The blast destroyed her aura and sent her rolling off the edge of the cabin which she gripped onto with a single hand. Roman looked askance at the dangling maiden and laughed at her, "Trying to cut in line, are we pipsqueak? Well alright then! I'll just take you out first!"

Weiss remained wide eyed at the now imperilled girl she saw hanging from the ship and whispered, "Rose you idiot…" Roman aimed his stick down at the defenseless rose but as he pulled the trigger a silver blur deflected it upwards, causing it to miss Ruby. Weiss' steel eyes looked into Roman's, "I will never accept giving up my spot in line to someone like her. You will deal with me first."

Roman smirked, "You've got nothing left Ice Queen. Your aura and semblance is gone and with all those ships I saw flashes coming out of and the fact you only used one shot on me I'll bet your dust is too. I'd say a witch without any spells left is probably pretty easy to deal with, especially since I've still got plenty of rounds of my own."

"With my skill I don't need anything to deal with lowly scum like you!" Weiss charged into Roman and batted away the gun as it aimed at her, leading its next shot to miss. The white witch wove pierce after pierce between parry after parry against the criminal's cane as he was put surprisingly on the back foot. Ruby managed to sling her scythe and get her other hand gripped on the edge, securing her position a bit more.

Meanwhile Roman continued his backpedal against the now far more aggressive Ice Queen whose poise and grace had been replaced with poison and grit. The thief's orange aura was caught by some of the strikes and began being whittled down. Meanwhile his own face was incredulous at the aura spent girl being somehow able to put him on the defensive, "I had you beat dammit! How the hell can you come back like this?"

"My reason?" Weiss asked furiously as she struck in the same way, "It's my hatred of debt! Since I now owe the Rose girl my life I intend to pay it back as soon as possible!"

"Well you can pay it back to her when you're both dead!" Roman struck forward with his cane and the white clad heiress parried it, only for it to snake around her guard. The ice queen adjusted in the bind to wind a shot within it herself, but the master thief capitalized on the predictable reaction by grasping her rapier's blade and twisting it against his cane to leverage it free from her grip. The disarmament put a smirk on Roman's face but Weiss smirked as well and rushed within the thief's inner reach to aim a kick at his right knee with her heel, from the bottom of which a spike of silver flicked out.

The spike shattered Roman's aura and pierced into his knee, drawing blood from it and making him collapse to the deck. Weiss put her opposite foot beneath Myrtenaster's blade on the floor and kicked it up into her hand where she then held its point at Roman's throat. Weiss looked down on the criminal mastermind proudly, "It is over Torchwick. You will rot in a cell for stealing from my family."

Roman gritted his teeth at the person who stood over him and spoke in a low growl, "I'll never go back there… Never do you hear me!" With that the criminal rolled out the side of the aircraft and fell, screaming, "Neo!"

From her place up against the golden mane Neo heard the yell, saw the falling thief wide eyed, and immediately sprang up to catch him. Yang fired a shotgun blast at the pair and Blake leapt from the shadows and threw her black windmill to shear the sky towards them. However, as soon as they struck the duo shattered into a million pieces which then dissolved. Yang gritted her teeth, "Dammit! Quick Blake they can't have gone far we gotta go after them!"

Yang started to dash but Blake grabbed her. Yang looked back at the ninja tabby with a crimson glare and Blake merely shook her head, "I can't sense them at all Yang and I have no idea which direction they went. It's useless to try searching for them."

Yang gritted her teeth at the black cat but then turned away to look back at the dissolving shards of glass. The berserker maiden clinched her fists and stomped a foot, "Dammit!"

The upwardly weak Ruby tried desperately to clamber her way back into the airship but she was having trouble with it. She managed to get her right elbow over the edge only to see a pale hand lowered before her face. The red hood looked up to see the serious faced ice queen and grabbed the extended hand to be pulled up. Ruby panted a bit as she sprawled out on the floor, "Thanks Weiss, I owe you one."

"Nothing of the sort Rose." Weiss said aloof, "You saved me and I saved you. There is no debt left between us."

Ruby sat up, "You had to let Roman go to stay here and pull me back up. I promised to help you catch him and I'm the one who made you let him go…"

Weiss looked down at the head bent red hood and some concern crossed her face for the other girl, "It is not that big of an issue Ru-Rose. My whole goal was not to arrest him, merely to keep the SDC from being robbed and it seems we have succeeded at that. I am sure the others have nearly dealt with his gang of cronies down there. Once we clean this place up and deliver them to the police we will have eliminated all of his personnel. I doubt he will ever amass an army like this ever again and without one my company is safe." Weiss knelt down before the sitting Ruby and extended her hand once more with a slight smile on her face, "Your promise to me has been fulfilled Ro…" Weiss paused for a bit before looking at her leader caringly, "Ruby."

Ruby looked up at the heiress with a bit of water in her silver eyes. The red hood ignored the extended hand and sprang forward embracing the ice queen in a hug, "Oh Weiss!"

Weiss' entire body went rigid for a moment but she relaxed and patted Ruby's back a couple of times before pushing the team leader off herself, "Ahem, yes, well, let's put this ship down and see to it the rest of the gang is arrested properly."

Ruby smiled gleefully at the heiress, "You got it _new friend!_"

Weiss' glared flatly back at Ruby, "No."

"Ah, right, sure… gotta keep it professional on the job and all! My bad uh… teammate?"

Weiss groaned, stood, and made her way to the cockpit while Ruby softly giggled at her newfound friendship.

* * *

Jaune headed wearily back towards the loading bays, his massive aura and his muscles having both been exhausted. He stepped out into the open bays and looked around, spying Pyrrha there as well. The redhead caught sight of the blonde boy and rushed over to him grabbing him in a hug, "You're back!" The warrior princess then held out the paladin at arm's length, "And you're worn out and bleeding! Jaune I told you to call me if you needed help!"

"I didn't need help Pyrrha," the white knight waved off, "It was just normal hard work, back on the farm I'd look like this at the end of every day, well, minus the blood anyway." Out from around a corner ran Ren and Nora and Jaune walked over to them, "You guys done mopping up?"

Ren nodded and Nora put her maul upon her shoulders and let out an exhale, "I tell you Jaune, dealing with all these guys like you said wasn't easy. Me and Ren work way better when we stick together."

"I know Nora," the white knight responded, "this was a one time thing, hopefully I never need to risk us like that again."

At that moment Team JNPR heard sirens blaring and saw blue and red lights flashing outside in the night. Airships with their own red and blue lights shone white ones down on the gathered team. A loud voice came out at the team gathered below, "This is the VPD! You are under arrest! Put your hands up!"

Nora looked confused at Jaune, "Uh… They do know we're the ones that stopped the robbery right?"

A squad of black armored policemen rushed in through the loading bay doors and surrounded team JNPR with rifles aimed at them. Jaune's face fell flat and he raised his arms leading the rest of his team to do the same, "You know Nora, somehow I doubt that."


	17. Volume 1 Epilogue: Bail Out

Teams RWBY and JNPR sat together in the middle of a large cell filled up with unconscious thugs. Ruby looked around at the others and smiled awkwardly, "So… uh… sorry for getting us all arrested, but hey! Look on the bright side! At least we all get to be roommates together now!"

Jaune sighed, "No need to apologize Ruby, it wasn't just you and Weiss' goal that caused this, we all agreed to it. That said I am kinda pissed at myself for not realizing we might get taken in with the guys we took down."

Yang looked over at Weiss, "Think your company can bail us out Ice Queen? You are the rich girl after all."

Weiss gave a flat look at Yang with a cocked eyebrow, "And let my father know what it is I've been doing? No. Besides, even if the company would bail me out I doubt that it would do the same for the rest of you."

Nora cracked her knuckles, "Welp, guess it's time to run the yard then! Who's the biggest, toughest guy here Ren?"

"That would be Junior," Ren answered while pointing to the sleeping giant, "the man who we already beat and who is currently unconscious."

"Oh. Right. Well I guess that makes us top dogs around here already then!" Nora proclaimed with her hands on her hips triumphantly.

All of a sudden a guard came up and unlocked the cell. He pointed towards the teens, "You eight, come with me, you're getting released."

The eight students looked around at each other surprised someone had assisted them. Yang merely shrugged, stood up, and began walking out with the guard and the rest soon followed her. The eight teens walked along the halls and Ruby sidled up to Weiss and whispered, "Do you think your company might have come through for us after all?"

Weiss shook her head, "How could they? The police took our scrolls and haven't let us contact anyone yet. I do not think we will find out who is behind this until we are put in their hands."

"More like in their grip." Blake inserted.

Yang scoffed, "Yeah, whoever helps us get out will likely want us to return the favor."

The teams walked silently through the rest of the corridor until they reached the door at the end of it. The guard opened the locked porthole and held it open for the teens, "The guy who bailed you guys is sitting at the first desk. Just go wait until he gets you guys finalized and then you're free to go."

The teams paused for a moment looking at one another, then walked forward into the room. A busy office area with desks arranged in a grid sprawled out before them and there, sitting in front of the first desk was a spectacled old man with gray hair in a green suit. Ozpin lowered his spectacles to look over top of them at the two teams, "Hello students."

Ruby's silver eyes went wide, "Headmaster! I can explain! It wasn't us! Well it was kinda us, but we were trying to stop it! See-these-thieves-robbed-a-store-and-me-and-weiss-stopped-them-but-their-boss-got-away-so-we-hunted-him-down-to-his-hideout-but-he-got-away-again-and-we-found-out-about-his-plan-to-rob-the-warehouse…"

Ozpin put up a hand to halt the red hood, "Enough Miss Rose, enough! I'm well aware of your situation."

Ruby stopped dead and paused with a vulnerable look on her face and a guilty trickle of her voice came out, "You… you are?"

"Yes. Your little excursions into Vale's underworld did not evade my attention."

"So," Jaune said with stoic submission to justice, "I guess that means our punishment will come from you instead of the police then."

"Punishment?" Ozpin cocked an eyebrow, "Mister Arc if I had wanted that for you I'd have merely left you to sit and think in that cell. No, quite the opposite in fact. I wished to congratulate you on a job well done." Everyone gave Ozpin a look of stupefied shock and the wizard chuckled, "You accomplished something the authorities and even other licensed and active huntsmen could not. Even though you skirted the law and some of my rules to do so I can hardly be unforgiving of that when doing so aided the greater good. So I pulled what few strings I had with the police and convinced them that you were merely responding to the robbery. You will not be charged for fighting off the real criminals."

"So… we're… not in trouble?" Nora asked inquisitively.

"Well…" Ozpin replied a bit hesitantly, "Unfortunately I cannot let you go completely free or else I would risk upsetting some of my more… straight laced staff."

Yang cocked an eyebrow, "Professor Goodwitch you mean?"

Ozpin cracked a bit of a smile, "Though she follows the rules a bit too rigidly for most tastes I still greatly value her skill as a teacher. I must give all of you at least a wrist slap to keep her appeased. So, all of you head back to the academy. I shall inform you of whatever sentence I deem for you tomorrow."

The teams hung their heads in acceptance of the headmaster's promise of discipline and began trotting out of the station. Ruby and Jaune followed behind the rest of their comrades but they were both grabbed on the shoulder by Ozpin. The two teens turned toward the headmaster who looked on them a bit more seriously, "You two may have a bit extra I must speak to you about, but not here and now. Just know that there may soon come a time when I need to call you into my office."

Ruby and Jaune looked at each other hesitantly. Jaune was the first to direct his perplexed gaze back at the professor, "Uh… Sure thing Headmaster."

"Good." Ozpin grinned, "Now you two go join back up with your teams quickly. I know you all probably need a long rest."

The two teens nodded and sprinted off after their friends and the old man looked at them as they left with a deeply contemplative expression.

* * *

Four girls made their way exhausted into their room and the blonde one collapsed onto her bed with her face in the pillow. Yang rolled over and splayed out wildly, looking directly upwards and groaning in tiredness, "Thank god we're finally back home. I. Am. Beat."

Weiss massaged the tricep of her sword arm, "I am quite sore as well. Fighting against so many enemies for so long is a bit more costly in terms of endurance than I am prepared for. I think it is high time for us to go to bed."

Yang held up a mimed shot glass, "Cheers to that idea Ice Queen."

Most of the team began their preparation for slumber. Weiss went over to the nightstand and removed the device which held her ponytail, and as she shook her hair loose she saw that Ruby wasn't yet hanging her hood. The heiress raised a brow, "Ruby? You aren't coming to bed?"

The red hood smiled awkwardly and pointed a thumb over her shoulder, "Oh, I was just gonna go check up on team JNPR, you know, make sure they're doing ok and all that. I'll join you guys in just a little bit."

Yang bolted up in her bed shooting an amused look at Ruby, "Are you really gonna go check up on the _whole_ team JNPR? 'Cause it seems to me like you're only going there to check on the 'J'."

Ruby groaned, "No Yang. I am not making some weird flirty move on the guy who is _just_ my friend and nothing more. How many times do I have to tell you this until you believe it?"

"Sounds like somebody's still in denial." Yang said in a singsong voice while making a romantic hand holding gesture with her own two hands.

Ruby groaned again, turned, walked out, and slammed the door behind her. Weiss rolled her eyes at the blonde, "Must you constantly annoy her like that?"

"Only til she finally figures it out for herself Ice Queen." Yang replied with a grin, "Though I gotta say you getting worried about her getting annoyed is new. Have you maybe finally decided to stop being so bitchy at her?"

Weiss turned away from Yang while continuing her sleeping preparations in an aloof act with a bit of a blush, "If I must stay on this team then my relationships with you might as well be at least cordial."

Yang hopped out of bed and embraced the heiress from behind, lifting her up and putting a wide eyed and startled look on her face, "Awww! How sweet! So you've come 'round to all of us huh?!"

"Let me go Yang!" Weiss shouted while squirming within the blonde's iron grip.

Yang ignored the plea of mercy and looked over at Blake, "Come get in on this little kitty! You're one of Rubes' big sisters now too!"

"I'll pass." Blake said flatly as she went through her dresser drawer while the other two wrestled. In mid pin Blake felt and heard a vibration in the pocket of her trousers and pulled her scroll out to look at the notification.

Blake went wide eyed for a split second but Yang caught it and froze her grapple with the heiress to look over towards the cat kunoichi, "Something up Blake?"

The black clad girl shook her head and stowed the scroll, "No, it's nothing."

Weiss broke free panting during the distraction and Yang shrugged at both other females, "Ok then, let's hit the hay."

Blake hesitated, "I'm... not feeling quite ready to fall asleep yet. You two go ahead, I think I'll walk around a bit first…"

Blake walked out of the door and closed it softly behind her. Weiss looked askance at the exit Blake had left through as she addressed Yang, "What do you suppose is going on with that one?"

Yang shrugged, "Cats sleep whenever they want Ice Queen, now hit the lights wouldja? Us wrestling wore me out even more."

Weiss sighed and cut off the lights before climbing into bed and switching her lamp off.

* * *

Ruby knocked on the door to team JNPR's room which opened almost immediately to reveal Nora, who immediately gasped, "Ruby!" The Valkyrie embraced the Rose, "So glad you could visit!"

Ren waved at Ruby from his seat on the end of his bed where he was sharpening his sabers, "Hello Ruby."

The red hood was released from the hug and caught her breath a bit, "Hey guys. I just came to see if you were doing ok."

Nora hand waved off the concern, "We're doing just fine. Tired but all in one piece! No need to worry about us!"

"Thank you for the concern though." Ren finished.

"Um, ok then, as long as everything is good with you two…" Ruby said awkwardly before perking up a bit, "So where are Jaune and Pyrrha anyway? I thought you'd all be in here."

Ren shrugged and Nora answered, "Pyrrha dragged Jaune out of the room to talk to him for some reason, if I had to guess I'd say they're up on that secret rooftop that everybody knows about."

"Secret rooftop?" Ruby asked innocently.

Nora placed a palm on the red hood's shoulder and sighed, "That you haven't heard those rumors makes you so innocent Ruby. Just head up the flight of stairs all the way to that door at the top and you'll get there."

Ruby looked puzzled at Nora, "Uh… Thanks I guess?"

The red hood walked off in the direction she'd been pointed and Ren cocked an eyebrow at Nora who put her hands on her hips when she saw it, "What?"

"Should you really be sending someone to interrupt Pyrrha?" The jade dragon asked critically.

"Oh relax Ren." Nora said nonchalantly, "Ruby talking to them for a minute isn't gonna hurt."

* * *

Pyrrha and Jaune stood up on a roof together and the white knight looked around awkwardly for a second, "So why exactly are we back up here Pyrrha? I mean if you wanna talk I don't see why we couldn't have just done it in the room."

Pyrrha looked hard at the boy, "I saw you get hurt badly in that fight Jaune."

Jaune grimaced at the obvious route his conversation with Pyrrha was about to go down, "I wasn't hurt that bad Pyrrha," the white knight lifted the mop from his brow, "look, you see? The cut's healing up already. There probably won't even be a scar."

"There was a bunch of blood running down your face and you're still acting like it was nothing! This is even worse than when you ran through the fire! I told you to make sure to run back to me if you were in trouble and you didn't! What if you had been hurt worse Jaune! What if you had been ki…"

"I can't run to you for everything Pyrrha." Jaune struck back at the redhead, "If I don't learn to hold my own then I'm no leader. All I am then is a burden."

"I _want _that burden Jaune!" The warrior princess grabbed the boy by the shoulders and slipped hands behind his neck, bending his head towards hers, "I want…" The girl's emerald eyes gently softened as they looked into the boy's widened sapphire ones, "you…" Pyrrha brought Jaune closer and their lips met with her eyes closed and his stunned open.

Pyrrha released Jaune and began to have a guilty look while shaking her head, "I-I shouldn't have!... I'm so sorry!"

The redhead spun and was about to run off only to be caught by the upper arm in a terribly strong grip. The girl was spun back quickly and gripped tight by both arms and in spite of her own strength she was unable to escape, frozen as she was by sapphire steel eyes. Without seeing anything beyond the blue she heard in a soft but strong tone, "Don't be."

The bronze girl became molten in the hands of the white knight as she was the one pulled into a white hot kiss. At this moment the door to the roof opened and a red hooded girl came through the threshold to be greeted by a romantic embrace between two others. The silver eyes of the rose went wide and from the corners of them a small bit of water trickled down. Ruby fled the scene, slamming the door behind her which caused the kiss to break again when the two engaged in it were startled by such loud sound. Ruby ran fast as she could down the stairs and back to the door to her room. She nearly opened it, but halted when a drop of water fell upon the back of the hand she'd extended to do so. The girl spun and put her back to the wall right next to her door with her head raised to look up at the ceiling, "Dammit…" The girl slid down the wall until she sat hugging her knees with her face buried in them, "I think… Yang might be right…"

* * *

A black cat walked the campus of Beacon all the way to its front gates which had been closed for the evening. Blake stopped at the obstacle and looked around, spying a different entrance off to the left. The ninja made her way over to the other gate which she tested with her paws, finding it loose as it squeaked slightly. The girl slipped thinly through the slight gap she created and made her way outside of the boundaries meant to contain her at night. Through the darkness the black clad girl trekked, ensuring that she remained subtle and unnoticeable. Eventually she made her way to an alley in the city into which she ducked.

Blake cast glances around to ensure there were no witnesses about. The girl whispered cautiously, "Psst. I'm here. Where are you?" Behind her a tall black form walked out of the darkness and a gloved hand was lain on her shoulder, shocking her a bit and causing her to spin around quickly reaching for her blade. Though once she looked at who had touched her she relaxed and exhaled, "Oh it's you. Don't do that anymore! What if I had hurt you?"

"I doubt you would have." Retorted a deep voice whose owner was still partially hidden in the shadows.

Blake crossed her arms a bit sheepishly, "Yeah… I guess you're right, but I'm still worried about you. Bad enough that you came to the city with all these cops around. What are you doing here anyway, and why risk us both with this meeting?"

"I got contacted by some of the guys here. Apparently there's something big about to go down and they're bringing in as many of the cells together as they can." The man placed both his hands on the girl's shoulders, "And since I was passing by, I thought I'd see how your mission is progressing."

"The humans I got put with are… different than I thought they would be…"

The man paused a bit, "How?"

"They found out I'm not one of them."

The man became tense, "They know you're with us!?"

Blake immediately went defensive, "No! They only found out I was a faunus, not why I am there, and they didn't push me away after finding out. They're actually still trusting me."

The man put a hand to his chin, "Hmmm… That is strange…"

"Should I get out of there?"

A hand was raised in a halting gesture, "No. If they trust you then all that does is make your mission easier. Just keep trying to acquire as much knowledge and supplies as you can for us." At this Blake merely nodded and looked down forlorn, only to have a hand put in her shoulder to get her to look up "It's only for a bit longer. After you've gotten everything we need we'll be back together." From the shadows that had been concealing it, out bent the face of a redheaded man with a white mask over his eyes and black horns. "For good this time."

* * *

A knock came upon the door of Beacon's headmaster and he called out, "Come in!"

The welcome was answered by a door being opened by a blonde woman with glasses. Glynda marched up towards Ozpin's desk and looked at him a bit angrily, "Headmaster what's this about team RWBY and JNPR being involved in some sort of fight with criminals?"

Ozpin put his hand up to calm Glynda, "That is what I actually wanted to speak with you about. Since they have taken successful action against this crime ring I would like to employ them further rather than punish them."

"Employ them? They are students! They are not yet prepared for actual huntsman duties!"

"They seemed more prepared than our local licensed huntsmen were. Though the criminals were a step ahead of them our two teams got a step ahead of the criminals. Since I have so little influence over the proper authorities I am somewhat forced to use my students to get to the bottom of such things."

"And why precisely is it that you need to look into such things in the first place?"

Ozpin leaned back in his chair with fingers steepled and a serious expression, "The creep outbreak on our grounds, the series of dust and weapon robberies rather than, say, bank robberies, the fact that both took place around the same time and seemed to involve extremely adept hacking."

"You think there is something larger afoot?"

"I do, and the fact that the enemy has attempted to distract me specifically from it with those creeps makes me think that perhaps we are dealing with the return of someone I had thought dead."

"Is this… some sort of personal vendetta against you sir?"

Ozpin sighed, "No doubt that is part of it, but it does not matter if I am personally involved. If who I think may be behind this is then it will affect many others besides myself. We must use every resource at our disposal to try and stop this before it begins."

Glynda grumbled a bit, "Even if we have better information about this than the authorities do I still don't like the idea of putting students in danger like this."

Ozpin cracked a bit of a smile, "Knowing those students they'll likely run headfirst into it whether we tell them to or not. Best if we at least guide and supervise them while they do so, and, luckily for us, a certain freelancer we know has become available again to do precisely that."

Ozpin tossed a scroll at Glynda who caught it and saw the portrait of an available huntsmen displayed on the screen. Glynda's eyes widened before becoming extremely hard, "No. Not him. Anyone but him."

Ozpin's grin got a bit wider, "I'm afraid I have already put in the call and he has already accepted. We can expect Mister Branwen to join our staff shortly."

* * *

Roman Torchwick walked on the black marble floor of a well appointed building accompanied by his secretary. Due to the master crook's new leg injury his cane was now being useful for its traditional purpose rather than solely as his weapon. Lounged on the couch was a tan, mustached man in a blue suit, yellow shirt, and black tie. The mustachioed man smirked at the thief a bit, "Roman! Good to see you've actually made it out of that huge catch the law officers made." The blue suited man cast a glance at Roman's obvious limp, "Well… mostly anyway… Still it's a shame all my work getting you access to that security system went to waste."

Roman sighed as he walked past the couch and the suit and tie hopped up to follow by his side, "Thanks Doc. I'm guessing that since you already know what happened the boss does too?"

"Not yet. I was keeping an eye on your status over the net but I thought it would be better for you if you relayed it yourself rather than having a middle man do it."

"Well then double thanks I guess. Know where the boss is right now?"

"Still in the office I believe."

"Well then that's where I'm headed I guess." As they came upon an elevator Roman called it down, "Wish me luck."

"I somehow doubt you will receive any even if I wish it on you Roman."

The elevator arrived and Roman stepped into it and sighed, "Yeah that's probably true." Roman looked down at his assistant, "Neo you stay down here and wait for me. I shouldn't be up there too long."

Neo nodded and the elevator doors closed. Roman rode his way up to the top floor of the building. When the doors opened he was presented with a long hallway and he started down it. When he reached the doors at the end he paused before bringing up his hand to knock on them. However before his hand struck anything a soft female voice came, "Come in."

Roman's hand stopped without a knock and instead he brought it down to turn the knob and walk in. The room was decorated in a shining black like obsidian and behind the desk at its center a chair was turned towards the large window to allow its occupant to view the night, "Roman. Have you come to bring me news of your successful mission?"

Roman gulped a bit, "Uh… no Boss… I'm sorry but there were some huntsmen in training who managed to interfere with the heist long enough for the cops to show up. We weren't able to grab anything and most of my boys got taken in. I only just barely managed to escape."

A long pause occurred building suspense within Roman's core, but the voice came back inquisitively, "Students you say?"

Roman hesitated a bit but answered back, "Yeah, at least I think so. They were all pretty young looking and bratty."

"Hmmm… So not only have we been prevented from acquiring more resources, but Ozpin may have been alerted to us once more…"

"Want me to try getting us more dust or dealing with those kids?"

A pale hand rose up from the chair to wave off Roman's question, "Neither. We already have quite a good stockpile and I'd rather you remain hidden from the law and those children and use your charm to help me. I've called together many faunus of that group, the white fang. I'd like it if you could attempt to solidify their cells into a single whole to work with us, especially now that we have run low on men."

Roman groaned a bit, "The faunus of the White Fang? Those things never listen to us humans."

A somewhat amused tone rang in the voice, "Oh I'm sure that with your charisma you could find a way to secure their cooperation. As for those trainee huntsmen I have someone else who I shall send to deal with them."

"Ugh. You're talking about _that one _aren't you?"

"That particular follower of mine is quite starved for a mission at the moment."

"Whatever, long as you keep them away from me it's fine I guess."

"I'll try and isolate you from one another as best I can. Now if that's all you have to report you may leave." Roman tipped his bowler towards the chair and began clacking out on his cane, but the voice sounded again, "Oh and Roman?"

Roman turned back quickly, "Yeah Boss?"

"We are quite close to achieving our goal here. Please don't fail me again."

Roman gulped, intimidated, "Of course I won't Boss."

"I certainly hope not."

With that Roman turned back and walked out of the office as quickly as he could, leaving the person in the chair to continue watching out the window.

**Author's note: Welp that's the end of v1. For all you readers I don't like saying it but it's likely we'll have to hit a little hiatus in uploads seein as how we ain't yet got the chapter outlines for v2 finished yet. But, hopefully, it won't take too long for us to get those worked out so we can hit yall with even more entertainment. In the meantime any reviews, criticisms, or feedback is greatly appreciated. See yall next volume!**


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